BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES 


LOYALISTS 


OF    THE 


AMERICAN   REVOLUTION, 


WITH 


AN  HISTORICAL  ESSAY. 


BY 

LORENZO    SABINE. 


IN    TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOLUME    I. 


UNIVERSITY 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,  BP^WN  AND   COMPANY. 

1864. 


7  5-0  ?  / 

Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

LORENZO  SABINE, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


RIVERSIDE,   CAMBRIDGE: 
PRINTED  BY  H.  O.  HOUGHTON  AND  COMPANY. 


PREFACE 


OF  the  reasons  which  influenced,  of  the  hopes  and 
fears  which  agitated,  and  of  the  miseries  and  rewards 
which  awaited  the  Loyalists  —  or,  as  they  were  called 
in  the  politics  of  the  time,  the  "Tories"  —  of  the 
American  Eevolution,  but  little  is  known.  The  most 
intelligent,  the  best  informed  among  us,  confess  the 
deficiency  of  their  knowledge.  The  reason  is  obvi 
ous.  Men  who,  like  the  Loyalists,  separate  them 
selves  from  their  friends  and  kindred,  who  are 
driven  from  their  homes,  who  surrender  the  hopes 
and  expectations  of  life,  and  who  become  outlaws, 
wanderers,  and  exiles,  —  such  men  leave  few  me 
morials  behind  them.  Their  papers  are  scattered 
and  lost,  and  their  very  names  pass  from  human 
recollection. 

Hence  the  most  thorough  and  painstaking  inquirers 
into  their  history  have  hardly  been  rewarded  for  the 
time  and  attention  which  they  have  bestowed.  My 
own  pretensions  are  extremely  limited.  Yet,  as  my 
home,  for  twenty-eight  years,  was  on  the  eastern  fron 
tier  of  the  Union,  where  the  graves  and  the  children 
of  the  Loyalists  were  around  me  in  every  direction ; 
as  1  enjoyed  free  and  continual  intercourse  with  per- 


iv  PREFACE. 

sons  of  Loyalist  descent ;  as  I  have  had  the  use  of 
family  papers,  and  of  rare  documents  ;  as  I  have  made 
journeys  to  confer  with  the  living,  and  pilgrimages  to 
graveyards,  in  order  to  complete  the  records  of  the 
dead ;  —  I  may  venture  to  say,  that  the  BIOGRAPHICAL 
NOTICES  which  are  contained  in  these  volumes,  will 
add  something  to  the  stock  of  knowledge  obtained  by 
previous  gleaners  in  this  interesting  branch  of  our 
Revolutionary  Annals. 

Still,  I  have  to  remark,  that  I  have  repeatedly  been 
ready  to  abandon  the  pursuit  in  despair.  For,  to 
weave  into  correct  and  continuous  narratives  the 
occasional  allusions  of  books  and  State  Papers  ;  to 
join  together  fragmentary  events  and  incidents ;  to 
distinguish  persons  of  the  same  surname  or  family 
name,  when  only  that  name  is  mentioned ;  and  to 
reconcile  the  disagreements  of  various  epistolary  and 
verbal  communications  ;  has  seemed,  at  times,  utterly 
impossible.  There  are  some  who  can  fully  appreciate 
these,  and  other  difficulties,  which  beset  the  task,  and 
who  will  readily  understand  why  many  of  the  NOTICES 
are  meagre ;  and  why,  too,  it  is  possible  for  others  to 
be,  in  one  or  more  particulars,  inaccurate.  Indeed,  I 
may  appeal  to  the  closest  students  of  our  history,  as 
my  best  witnesses,  to  prove  that  entire  correctness  and 
fulness  of  detail,  in  tracing  the  course,  and  in  ascer 
taining  the  fate,  of  the  adherents  of  the  Crown,  are 
not  now  within  the  power  of  the  most  careful  and 
industrious. 

Of  several  of  the  Loyalists  who  were  high  in  office, 
of  others  who  were  men  of  talents  and  acquirements, 
and  of  still  others  who  were  of  less  consideration,  1 
have  been  able,  after  long  and  extensive  researches, 


PREFACE.  v 

to  learn  scarcely  more  than  their  names,  or  the  single 
fact,  that,  for  their  political  opinions  or  offences,  they 
were  proscribed  and  banished.  But  I  have  deemed 
it  best  to  exclude  no  one,  whether  of  exalted  or  hum 
ble  station,  of  whose  attachment  to  the  cause  of  the 
mother  country  I  have  found  satisfactory,  or  even 
reasonable,  evidence.  In  following  out  this  plan,  rep 
etition  of  the  same  facts,  as  applicable  to  different 
persons,  has  been  unavoidable.  That  I  have  some 
times  erred,  by  including  among  the  "  Tories  "  a  few 
who  finally  became  Whigs,  is  very  probable.  To 
change  from  one  side  to  the  other,  both  during  the 
controversy  which  preceded  the  shedding  of  blood, 
and  at  various  periods  of  the  war,  was  not  uncom 
mon ;  and  I  have  been  struck,  in  the  course  of. my 
investigations,  with  the  absence  of  fixed  principles, 
not  only  among  people  in  the  common  walks  of 
life,  but  in  many  of  the  prominent  personages  of 
the  day. 

The  number  of  books  from  which  information  is  to 
be  obtained  is  limited.  A  few,  however,  have  afforded 
me  essential  aid  :  among  these,  I  gladly  notice  Force's 
American  Archives ;  Onderdonk's  Revolutionary  Inci 
dents  of  the  counties  of  Queen's,  Suffolk,  and  King's, 
New  York  ;  Brewster's  Rambles  about  Portsmouth  ; 
Hall's  History  of  Eastern  Vermont;  Holland's  His 
tory  of  Western  Massachusetts ;  McRee's  Life  and 
Correspondence  of  Iredell ;  O'Callaghan's  Document 
ary  History  of  New  York  ;  Pennsylvania  Archives  ; 
Gentleman's  Magazine;  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  Amer 
ican  Pulpit ;  Updike's  Rhode  Island  Bar,  and  Narra- 
gansett  Church  ;  Wheeler's  Historical  Sketches  of 
North  Carolina  ;  White's  Historical  Collections  of 


vi  PREFACE. 

Georgia  ;  Van  Schaack's  Life  of  Peter  Van  Schaack ; 
Almon's  Remembrancer;  Shippen  Papers;  Journals 
of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  the  Thirteen  States ; 
Meade's  Old  Churches,  Ministers,  and  Families  of 
Virginia  ;  Army  and  Navy  Lists ;  Miss  Caulkins's  His 
tory  of  Norwich ;  Lee's  War  in  the  South  ;  Burke's 
British  Peerage ;  Sparks's  Washington ;  McCall's  His 
tory  of  Georgia  ;  Curwen's  Journal ;  Simcoe's  Jour 
nal  ;  Stone's  Life  of  Brant ;  Simms's  Life  of  Greene 
and  of  Marion  ;  State  Papers  of  the  United  States  ; 
American  Quarterly  Register  ;  and  Pamphlets  and 
Tracts  of  the  Revolutionary  era,  both  British  and 
American. 

So,  too,  I  gladly  acknowledge  my  obligations  to 
Winthrop  Sargent,  Henry  Onderdonk,  Jr.,  George 
Chandler,  E.  W.  B.  Moody,  Porter  C.  Bliss,  Edward 
D.  Ingraham,  Henry  Pennington,  William  S.  Leland, 
Robert  H.  Gardiner,  J.  B.  Bright,  John  Watts  De 
Peyster,  and  Edward  D.  Harris,  for  contributions  of 
materials,  or  for  personal  researches  in  my  behalf, 
or  for  the  use  of  rare  papers. 

In  conclusion,  a  word  of  grateful  mention  of 
Messrs.  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  the  publishers.  Seven 
teen  years  ago,  when  the  "  Tories "  had  seemingly 
passed  into  utter  and  deserved  oblivion,  these  gen 
tlemen  published  the  "American  Loyalists,"  without 
the  hope  of  gain,  and  with  the  probability,  indeed, 
of  actual  loss  ;  and  they  voluntarily  take  the  risk 
of  the  present  Work  under  circumstances  adverse 
to  adequate  pecuniary  profit.  For  them  and  for 
myself  I  may  venture  to  add,  that  the  principal  re 
ward  is  found  in  the  belief  that  we  have  done  some 
thing  for  the  cause  of  human  brotherhood,  by  les- 


PREFACE.  vii 

sening  the  rancor  —  even  the  hate  —  which  long 
existed  between  the  children  of  the  winners,  and 
the  children  of  the  expatriated  losers,  in  the  civil 
war  which  dismembered  the  British  Empire. 

ROXBURY,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
April,  1864. 


CONTENTS 


OF    THE 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Taxation  did  but  accelerate  the  Dismemberment  of  the  British  Empire. 
Several  Causes  of  Disaffection  on  the  part  of  the  Colonists  briefly 
stated.  Acts  of  Parliament  which  inhibited  Labor  in  the  Colonies. 
Opposition  to  the  Navigation  Act  and  the  Laws  of  Trade  in  the 
Time  of  the  Stuarts.  Renewed  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  a  Century. 
Mobs  and  Collisions,  Seizures  and  Rescues,  in  consequence.  The 
Question  of  "Three  Pence"  the  Pound  on  Tea  discussed.  The  Bar 
barous  Commercial  Code  of  England.  The  Contraband  Trade  in  Tea, 
Wine,  Fruit,  Sugar,  and  Molasses.  The  Measures  of  the  Ministry 
to  suppress  it.  One  fourth  part  of  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  Merchants  or  Shipmasters.  Hancock  prosecuted 
in  the  Admiralty  Courts  to  recover  nearly  Half  a  Million  of  Dol 
lars.  The  Loyalists  great  Smugglers  after  removing  from  the  United 
States ...  1-14 

CHAPTER  II. 

State  of  Political  Parties  in  the  New  England  Colonies         .         .     15-27  - 

CHAPTER  111. 

State  of  Political  Parties  in  the  Middle  Colonies  ....     28-33    v, 

CHAPTER  IV. 

State  of  Political  Parties  in  the  Southern  Colonies         .         .  34-48  ~ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Newspapers  in  the  Thirteen  Colonies.  Political  Writers,  Whig  and  Loy 
alist,  North  and  South.  Seminaries  of  Learning.  Condition  of  the 
Press,  &c.,  at  the  Revolutionary  Era.  Means  for  diffusing  Knowledge 
limited  ,  49-54 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Political  Divisions  in  Colonial  Society.  Most  of  those  in  Office  adhered 
to  the  Crown.  Charge  of  the  Loyalists  that  the  Whigs  were  mere 
needy  Place-Hunters,  answered.  Loyalist  Clergymen,  Lawyers,  and 
Physicians  ..........  55-61 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Reasons  given  for  Adherence  to  the  Crown.  The  Published  Declar 
ations  of  the  Whigs  that  they  wished  for  a  Redress  of  Wrongs  and  the 
Restoration  of  Ancient  Privileges,  as  found  in  "  Novanglus."  Rapid 
Statement  of  Colonial  Disabilities,  which  the  Whig  Leaders  hardly 
mentioned  in  the  Controversy,  and  which  appear  embodied  for  the 
first  time  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Denials  of  Whig 
Leaders,  North  and  South,  that  they  designed  at  the  Beginning  of  the 
Controversy  to  separate  from  England.  Reasons  of  the  Loyalists  for 
the  Course  adopted  by  them,  concluded  .....  62-68 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

\ 
Loyalists  who  entered  the  Military  Service  of  the  Crown  69-74 


* —  CHAPTER  IX. 

Whig  Mobs  before  the  Appeal  to  Arms,  and  tarring  and  feathering 
Punishments  of  Loyalists  during  the  War  for  overt  Acts  in  favor 
of  the  Crown,  and  for  speaking,  writing,  or  acting  against  the  Whi"s. 
Proscription,  Banishment,  and  Confiscation  Acts  of  the  State  Gov 
ernments.  The  Laws  which  divested  the  Loyalists  of  their  Estates 
examined  .........  75-87 


CONTENTS.  xi 


CHAPTER  X. 

^  The  Course  of  the  "  Violent  Whigs  "  towards  the  Loyalists,  at  the  Peace, 
discussed  and  condemned 88-93 


CHAPTER  XI. 

^JDiscussions  at  Paris  between  the  Commissioners  for  concluding  Terms 
of  Peace,  on  the  Question  of  Compensation  to  the  Loyalists  for  their 
Losses  during  the  War,  by  Confiscation  and  otherwise.  Reasons  why 
Congress  refused  to  make  Recompense,  stated  and  defended.  The 
Provisions  of  the  Treaty  unsatisfactory  in  this  particular.  The  Parties 
interested  appeal  to  Parliament.  Debates  in  the  Lords  and  Commons. 
The  Recommendation  of  Congress  to  the  States  to  afford  Relief  in 
certain  Cases,  disregarded 94-103 


CHAPTER  XII. 

/The  Loyalists  apply  to  Parliament  for  Relief.  The  King,  in  his  Speech, 
recommends  Attention  to  their  Claims.  Commissioners  appointed. 
Complaints  of  the  Loyalists  on  various  Grounds.  Number  of  Claim 
ants,  and  Schedules  of  their  Losses.  Delay  of  the  Commissioners  in 
adjusting  Claims,  and  Distresses  in  consequence.  Discussion  in  Par 
liament.  Final  Number  of  Claimants,  Final  Amount  of  Schedules, 
and  Final  Award.  In  the  Appeals  to  their  respective  Governments, 
the  Loyalists  fared  better  than  the  Whigs  ....  104-113 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Banished  Loyalists  and  their  Descendants.  Progress  of  Whig  Prin 
ciples  in  the  Canadas,  in  New  Brunswick,  and  Nova  Scotia.  The 
whole  System  of  Monopoly,  on  which  the  Colonial  System  was  founded 
and  maintained,  surrendered.  The  Colonists  now  manufacture  what 
they  will,  buy  where  they  please,  and  sell  where  they  can.  England 
herself  has  pronounced  the  Vindication  of  the  Whigs.  The  Heir  to. 
the  British  Throne  at  Mount  Vernon  and  Bunker  Hill.  The  Colo 
nists  claim  to  hold  the  highest  Places  in  the  Government,  in  the  Army, 
and  in  the  Navy.  Effects  of  the  Change  of  Policy.  The  Children  of 
the  Whigs  and  of  the  Loyalists,  reconciled  ....  114-137 


xii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Introductory  Remarks.  Principles  of  Unbelief  prevalent.  The  Whigs 
lose  sight  of  their  Original  Purposes,  and  propose  Conquests.  Decline 
of  Public  Spirit.  Avarice,  Rapacity,  Traffic  with  the  Enemy.  Gam 
bling,  Speculation,  Idleness,  Dissipation,  and  Extravagance.  Want 
of  Patriotism.  Excessive  Issue  of  Paper  might  have  been  avoided. 
Recruits  for  the  Army  demand  Enormous  Bounty.  Shameless  De 
sertions  and  Immoralities.  Commissions  in  the  Army  to  men  desti 
tute  of  Principle.  Court-martials  frequent,  and  many  Officers  Cash 
iered.  Resignations  upon  Discreditable  Pretexts,  and  alarmingly 
prevalent.  The  Public  Mind  fickle,  and  Disastrous  Changes  in 
Congress 138-152 


Of    TH) 

UNIVBHSITY 


PRELIMINARY   HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 


[In  this  Essay,  I  avail  myself  of  such  parts  of  my  own  contributions  to  the  "North 
American  Keview  "  as  are  pertinent  to  irp-  paii^xe.l 


CHAPTER   I. 

Taxation  did  but  accelerate  the  Dismemberment  of  the  British  Empire. 
Several  Causes  of  Disaffection  on  the  part  of  the  Colonists  briefly 
stated.  Acts  of  Parliament  which  inhibited  Labor  in  the  Colonies. 
Opposition  to  the  Navigation  Act  and  the  Laws  of  Trade  in  the  Time 
of  the  Stuarts.  Renewed  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  a  Century.  Mobs 
and  Collisions,  Seizures  and  Rescues,  in  consequence.  The  Question 
of"  Three  Pence  "  the  Pound  on  Tea  discussed.  The  Barbarous  Com 
mercial  Code  of  England.  The  Contraband  Trade  in  Tea,  Wine, 
Fruit,  Suuar,  and  Molasses.  The  Measures  of  the  Ministry  to  sup 
press  it.  One  fourth  part  of  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence  Merchants  or  Shipmasters.  Hancock  prosecuted  in  the 
Admiralty  Courts  to  recover  nearly  Half  a  Million  of  Dollars.  The 
Loyalists  great  Smugglers  after  removing  from  the  United  States. 

THE  thoughts  and  deductions  which  I  shall  pre 
sent  are  essentially  my  own,  and  I  shall  address  the 
reader  directly  and  without  reserve.  Many  things 
which  are  necessary  to  a  right  understanding  of  the 
revolutionary  controversy  have  been,  as  1  conceive, 
wholly  omitted,  or  only  partially  and  obscurely  stated. 

To  me,  the  lives  of  the  instruments  of  human  prog 
ress  run  into  one  another,  and  become  so  interwoven 
as  to  appear  but  the  continuation  of  a  single  life.  It 

VOL  I.  1 


2  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

is  so  in  the  history  of  a  country ;  and  I  am  weary  of 

reading  that  the  stamp  duty  and  the  tea  duty  were 

the  "  causes  "  of  the  American  Revolution.     Colonies 

become    nations  as   certainly  as  boys  become   men, 

and   by   a   similar  law.     The   "Declaration"   of  the 

fifty-six,    at    Philadelphia,  was   but   the    "Contract" 

signed  by  the  forty-one  sad  and  stricken  ones  in  the 

waters    of  Provincetown,  with   the    growth    of   one 

hundred  ajul,  fifty-six   years.     The   intermediate   oc- 

•fcuprenc&s  w&V's'ources  of  discipline,  of  development, 

.and.^£*yf£j3ai»afron.;   At  most,  taxation  and  the  kin- 

'•cffed*  fyliest'ibns  did  but  accelerate  the  dismemberment 

of  the  British  Empire,  just  as  a  man  whose  lungs  are 

half  consumed  hastens  the  crisis  by  suicide. 

The  writers  who  insist  that  the  Whigs  "went  to 
war  for  a  preamble,"  and  who  confine  their  views  to 
the  question  of  "  taxation  without  representation," 
seem  to  forget  that  the  conquest  of  Canada  relieved 
the  Colonies  of  all  apprehension  as  related  to  the 
French,  and  was  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  events, 
which,  as  we  reason  of  cause  and  effect,  led  naturally 
and  certainly  to  freedom.  They  forget,  too,  the  dis 
cussions  on  the  subject  of  introducing  Episcopal  bish 
ops,  and  giving  precedence  to  the  Established  Church; 
the  misrepresentations  in  Parliament  and  elsewhere 
of  the  principal  officers  who  served  in  the  French 
war ;  the  plan  to  consolidate  British  America,  to  take 
away  the  charters  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
and  Connecticut ;  to  reduce  the  whole  Thirteen  to  a 
common  system  of  government,  with  new  boundaries 
to  some,  and  with  restrictions  to  all ;  the  suggestion 
to  create  a  colonial  peerage ;  the  practice  of  confer 
ring  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  offices  on  the 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  8 

X"^<i.    '    5 !  i  r  (.'  r\  it  ^^^^ 

same  person ;  the  neglect  of  native  talenTsm  civil 
life,  except  when  connected  with  officials  of  English 
birth,  or  with  the  "old  colonial  families;"  and  the 
denial  of  promotion  to  officers  of  distinguished  mili 
tary  ability,  as  well  as  the  studied  insult  of  allowing 
a  captain  in  the  "  regulars  "  to  rank  and  to  command 
a  colonel  in  the  "  provincials." 

And  let  us  examine  the  POLITICAL  questions  which 
formed  elements  in  the  momentous  struggle  as  they 
really  were,  and  as  we  speak  of  passing  events  in 
which  we  ourselves  participate.  To  me,  the  docu 
mentary  history,  the  state-papers  of  the  revolution 
ary  era,  teach  nothing  more  clearly  than  this,  namely, 
that  almost  every  matter  brought  into  discussion  was 
practical,  and  in  some  form  or  other  related  to  LABOR,— 
to  some  branch  of  COMMON  INDUSTRY.  Our  fathers  did 
indeed,  in  their  appeals  to  the  people,  embody  their 
opposition  to  the  measures  of  the  mother  country, 
in  one  expressive  term  —  "Taxation"  -"Taxation 
without  Representation."  But  whoever  has  exam 
ined  the  acts  of  Parliament  which  wrere  resisted, 
has  found  that  nearly  all  of  them  inhibited  Labor. 
There  were  no  less  than  twenty-nine  laws,  wrhich  re 
stricted  and  bound  down  Colonial  industry.  Neither 
of  these  laws  touched  so  much  as  the  "  southwest  side 
of  a  hair"  of  an  "abstraction,"  and  hardly  one  of 
them,  until  the  passage  of  the  "  Stamp  Act,"  imposed 
a  direct  "  Tax."  They  were  aimed  at  the  North,  and 
England  lost  the  affection  of  the  mercantile  and  mar 
itime  classes  of  the  northern  Colonies  full  a  genera 
tion  before  she  alienated  the  South.  They  forbade 
the  use  of  waterfalls,  the  erecting  of  machinery,  of 
looms  and  spindles,  and  the  working  of  wood  and 


4  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

iron ;  they  set  the  king's  arrow  upon  trees  that  rotted 
in  the  forest ;  they  shut  out  markets  for  boards  and 
fish,  and  seized  sugar  and  molasses,  and  the  vessels  in 
which  these  articles  were  carried;  and  they  defined 
the  limitless  ocean  as  but  a  narrow  pathway  to  such 
of  the  lands  that  it  embosoms  as  wore  the  British 
flag.  To  me,  then,  the  great  object  of  the  Revolution 
was  to  release  LABOR  from  these  restrictions.  Fre'e- 
laborers  —  inexcusable  in  this  —  began  with  sacking 
houses,  overturning  public  offices,  and  emptying  tar- 
barrels  and  pillow-cases  upon  the  heads  of  those  who 
were  employed  to  enforce  these  oppressive  acts  of 
Parliament ;  and  when  the  skill  and  high  intellect 
which  were  enlisted  in  their  cause,  and  which  vainly 
strove  to  moderate  their  excess,  failed  to  obtain  a 
peaceable  redress  of  the  wrongs  of  which  they  com 
plained,  and  were  driven  either  to  abandon  the  end 
in  view,  or  to  combine  and  wield  their  strength,  men 
of  all  avocations  rallied  upon  the  field  and  embarked 
upon  the  sea,  to  retire  from  neither  until  the  very 
framework  of  the  Colonial  system  was  torn  awav, 
and  every  branch  of  industry  could  be  pursued  with 
out  fines  or  imprisonment. 

Such  are  the  opinions,  at  least,  that  I  have  formed 
on  the  questions  upon  which,  among  the  mass  of  the 
people,  the  contest  hinged ;  which  finally  united  per 
sons  of  every  employment  in  life  in  an  endeavor  to 
get  rid  of  prohibitions  that  remonstrance  could  not 
repeal,  or  even  humanize.  For  a  higher  or  holier 
purpose  than  this,  men  have  never  expended  their 
money,  or  poured  out  their  lifeblood  in  battle ! 

The  claims  of  the  merchants  and  ship-owners  have 
never,  as  it  seems  to  me,  been  fully  .or  fairly  stated. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  5 

They  were  undoubtedly  the  first  persons  in  America 
who  set  themselves  in  array  against  the  measures  of 
the  ministry.  The  causes  of  their  opposition  have 
already  incidentally  appeared,  but  some  farther  no 
tice  should  now  be  taken  of  their  efforts  to  obtain 
the  right  of  free  navigation  of  the  ocean.  The 
Stamp  Act,  and  other  statutes  of  a  kindred  nature, 
have  been  made,  I  think,  to  occupy  too  prominent  a 
place  among  the  causes  assigned  for  that  event.  The 
irritation  which  the  duties  on  stamps  excited  in  the 
planting  Colonies  subsided  as  soon  as  the  law  which 
imposed  them  was  repealed ;  and  I  submit,  that,  but 
for  the  policy  which  oppressed  the  commerce  and  in 
hibited  the  use  of  the  waterfalls  of  New  England,  the 
"dispute"  between  the  mother  and  her  children 
would  have  been  "left,"  as  Washington  breathed  a 
wish  that  it  might  be,  "  to  posterity  to  determine." 

While  Cromwell  lived,  Colonial  trade  was  free ;  but 
after  his  death,  the  maritime  interests  of  America 
soon  felt  the  difference  bet\veen  a  Puritan  and  a 
Stuart.  Measures  were  taken  by  Charles,  with  all 
possible  speed,  to  restrain  and  regulate  the  inter 
course  of  the  Colonies  with  countries  not  in  subjec 
tion  to  him,  and  even  that  with  England  herself.  At 
the  period  when  his  designs  were  to  be  executed, 
Massachusetts,  foremost  in  all  marine  enterprises,  not 
only  traversed  the  sea  at  will,  but  had  her  own  plan 
of  revenue,  and  a  collector  of  her  customs,  and  ex 
acted  fees  of  vessels  arriving  at  her  ports.  The  mer 
chants  of  Boston  had  dealings  with  Spain.  France, 
Portugal,  Holland,  the  Canaries,  and  even  with  Guinea 
and  Madagascar,  and  had  accumulated  considerable 
wealth.  The  trade  of  Connecticut,  of  Rhode  Island, 


G  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

and  of  the  other  Colonies,  was  small  and  limited.  But 
as  a  commercial  spirit  existed  everywhere,  and  as 
every  Colony  had  some  share  in  the  traffic  which 
was  to  be  checked,  or,  if  possible,  to  be  entirely 
broken  up,  none  were  disposed  to  submit  quietly  to 
the  measures  which  were  meant  to  effect  either  of 
these  purposes.  When,  then,  the  royal  collectors  of 
the  customs  came  over  from  England  to  carry  out 
the  will  of  their  sovereign,  they  were  met  with  re 
sistance  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other. 
In  truth,  the  difficulties  with  Randolph,  in  Massachu 
setts,  and  with  Bacon,  in  Virginia ;  the  strenuous  op 
position  to  the  establishment  of  a  custom-house  in 
Maryland,  and  the  killing  of  Rousby ;  the  insurrec 
tion  in  North  Carolina,  and  the  imprisonment  of  Mil 
ler  ;  the  quarrels  with  Muschamp  in  South  Carolina  ; 
the  indictment  of  the  Duke  of  York's  collector  in 
New  York,  and  the  conduct  of  juries  in  New  Jer 
sey,  in  prosecutions  against  smugglers,  serve  to  show 
that  the  Colonists,  when  few,  scattered,  and  weak, 
asserted  their  right  to  manage  their  affairs  upon  the 
ocean  according  to  their  own  pleasure.  In  a  word, 
the  Jirxt  effort  to  fasten  upon  American  merchants 
and  ship-owners  the  Navigation  Act  and  Laws  of 
Trade  was  a  signal  failure  ;  and  all  serious  endeav 
ors  to  arrest  the  course  or  restrain  the  limits  of  their 
maritime  enterprises  were  discontinued  for  nearly  a 
century.  Collectors  of  the  customs  were,  however, 
continued  at  all  the  principal  ports ;  but  they  seldom 
interfered  to  trouble  those  who  embarked  in  unlaw 
ful  adventures,  and  such  adventures  were  finally  un 
dertaken  without  fear,  and  almost  without  hazard. 
In  truth,  the  commerce  of  America  was  practically 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  7 

free.  Some  merchants  "smuggled"  whole  cargoes 
outright;  others  paid  the  king's  duty  on  a  part,  gave 
"hush-money"  to  the  under-officers  of  the  customs, 
and  "  run  "  the  balance. 

Suddenly,  and  without  warning,  there  came  a 
change.  The  year  17G1  was  iilled  with  events  of 
momentous  consequence.  We  find  the  merchants  of 
the  ports  of  New  England,  and  especially  those  of 
Boston  and  Salem,  deeply  exasperated  by  the  at 
tempts  of  the  revenue  officers,  under  fresh  and  per 
emptory  orders,  to  exact  strict  observance  of  the  hiws 
of  navigation  and  trade ;  and,  by  a  pretension  set  up 
under  these  instructions,  to  enter  and  search  places 
suspected  of  containing  smuggled  goods.  To  submit 
to  this  pretension,  was  to  surrender  the  quiet  of  their 
homes  and  the  order  of  their  warehouses  to  the  un 
derlings  of  the  government,  and  the  property  which 
they  held  to  the  rapacity  of  informers,  whose  gains 
would  be  in  proportion  to  their  wickedness.  Those, 
therefore,  of  the  two  principal  towns  of  Massachu 
setts,  who  were  interested  in  continuing  the  business 
which  they  had  long  pursued  without  molestation, 
and  under  a  sort  of  prescriptive  right,  and  in  pre 
serving  their  property  from  the  grasp  of  pimps  and 
spies,  determined  to  withstand  the  crown-officers,  and 
to  appeal  to  the  tribunals  for  protection  against  their 
claims.  James  Otis  threw  up  an  honorable  and  prof 
itable  station  to  become  their  advocate,  and,  by  his 
plea  in  their  behalf,  became  also  the  first  champion 
of  the  He  volution. 

From  this  period  until  the  commencement  of  hos 
tilities,  there  was  no  season  of  quiet  in  either  of  the 
Colonies  which  depended  upon  .  maritime  pursuits  ; 


8  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

and  in  Massachusetts,  the  scenes  of  tumult  and  wild 
commotion  which  occurred,  were  the  prelude  of  open 
war.  The  nine  years  which  preceded  the  affray — 
absurdly  called  the  ^Boston  Massacre" — were  crowd 
ed  with  acts,  which  show  to  what  extent  the  quarrels 
had  spread,  and  what  strength  the  popular  wrath  had 
attained.  The  revision  of  the  "  Sugar  Act,"  and  the 
exertions  to  carry  ont  its  new  provisions,  aided,  as 
the  revenue  officers  now  were,  by  ships  of  war  and 
an  increase  of  their  own  corps,  carried  consternation 
to  every  fireside  in  the  North. 

Another  step  in  the  controversy,  and  we  stand 
beside  the  "tea-ships."  I  have  no  space  to  discuss 
the  question  of  the  "three-pence  the  pound  duty  on 
tea,"  but  I  must  enter  my  dissent  from  the  common 
view  of  it.  To  me,  it  was  not,  as  it  has  been  re 
garded,  a  question  of  " taxation"  but  essentially,  like 
all  the  others  between  the  merchants  and  the  crown, 
one  of  commerce.  The  statements  of  Hutchinson,  the 
debates  in  Parliament,  and  the  state-papers  and  the 
documents  which  I  have  examined,  all  go  to  prove 
that  the  object  of  the  mother  country  was  mainly  to 
break  up  the  contraband  trade  of  the  Colonial  mer 
chants  Avith  Holland  and  her  possessions,  and  to  give 
to  her  own  East  India  Company  the  supply  of  the 
Colonial  markets.  The  value  of  the  tea  consumed 
in  America  was  estimated  at  £300,000  annually. 
Nearly  the  whole  quantity  was  "  smuggled."  Penn 
sylvania,  New  York,  and  Massachusetts,  were  the 
great  marts.  The  risk  of  seizure  for  many  years 
was  small ;  and  it  is  said,  that,  at  one  period,  not  one 
chest  in  five  hundred  of  that  which  was  landed  in 
Boston  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  the  cus- 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  9 

toms.  £ome  of  the  merchants  of  that  town  had 
become  rich  in  the  traffic,  and  a  considerable  part  of 
the  large  fortune  which  Hancock  inherited  from  his 
uncle  ]  was  thus  acquired. 

In  this  condition  of  things  the  Company  could  not 
sell  the  qualities  of  tea  which,  year  after  year,  they 
provided  for  the  American  market,  and  which  were 
not  wanted  anywhere  else ;  and  the  result  finally 
was,  the  loss  of  millions  of  dollars,  the  suspension  of 
dividends  to  shareholders,  and  inability  to  meet  their 
large  pecuniary  engagements  to  the  government. 
The  embarrassments  of  the  Company,  in  fine,  gave 
a  shock  to  commercial  credit  generally;  bankruptcy 
was  frequent ;  manufacturers  stopped  work ;  thou 
sands  of  weavers  roamed  the  streets  in  utter  distress, 
and  thousands  more  subsisted  on  charity.  Under  these 
circumstances,  to  break  up  the  contraband  trade  was 
of  vast  moment;  and  the  ministry  were  forced,  as  they 
reasoned,  to  assist  the  Company  on  grounds  of  inter 
est  and  policy.  The  Dutch  tea  was  inferior  to  the 
English,  as  was  universally  admitted,  and  the  latter, 
if  afforded  to  the  consumer  at  as  low  a  price,  would, 
it  was  thought,  expel  the  poorer,  or  the  smuggled  ar 
ticle  at  once.  Opposition  to  the  measure  on  the  part 
of  the  Colonists,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  appre 
hended  for  a  moment.  To  reduce  the  duty  from  a  ahil- 
liiif/  the  pound,  payable  in  England,  to  "three-pence," 
payable  in  the  ports  to  which  it  should  be  exported 
from  the  Company's  warehouses,  allowed  the  article 
to  be  sold  in  America  nine-pence  the  pound  rb'upw 
than  it  had  been  afforded  under  the  oil  rate  of  duty; 

1  Thomas  Hancock's  plan  of  smnjrglinp:  was  lo  put  his  tea  in  molasses- 
hogheads,  and  thus  "  run  "  it,  or  import  it  without  payment  of  duties. 


10  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

while,  by  securing  the  market,  it  at  the  same  time  se 
cured  a  revenue  on  whatever  quantity  might  actually 
be  entered  at  the  Colonial  custom-houses.  Such  is 
my  understanding  of  the  plan,  its  reasons,  and  its  ob 
jects  ;  and  it  is  pertinent  to  remark,  that,  if  the 
"tax"  had  really  been  its  objectionable  feature,  it  is 
singular  that  no  clamor  was  raised  while  the  duty 
was  four  times  "  three-pence "  the  pound.  At  that 
rate,  Whig  merchants,  as  well  as  others,  had  made 
small  importations  from  England,  in  order  "  to  cover" 
the  larger  and  illicit  importations  from  Holland  and 
her  dependencies.  It  is  equally  pertinent  to  observe, 
that  the  English  merchants,  who  sent  tea  to  parts  of 
America  where  the  contraband  trade  wras  less  exten 
sively  pursued,  were  as  hostile  to  a  measure  which 
threatened  them  with  the  loss  of  their  customers,  as 
were  their  commercial  brethren  in  the  Colonies,  who 
were  to  be  sufferers  from  the  same  cause. 

The  "tea"  which  came  charged  with  "three-pence" 
duty,  payable  on  being  landed,  was  disposed  of  in 
various  ways.  As  a  punishment  for  the  destruction 
of  that  sent  to  Boston,  that  port  was  shut  up,  and  its 
commerce  thus  struck  down  at  a  blow.  The  cutting 
ofF  the  fisheries,  which  were  then  the  very  lifeblood 
of  New  England,  soon  followed  the  passage  of  the 
"  Boston  Port  Bill,"  and  was  the  crowning  act  of  the 
policy  which  produced  ,  an  appeal  to  arms.  When 
the  tidings  that  no  vessels  could  now  enter  or  leave 
the  harbor  of  the  capital  of  Hie  North  spread  through 
the  land,  the  cry  that  "  Boston  is  suffering  in  the 
cause  which  henceforth  interests  all  America,"  rose 
spontaneously.  Public  meetings  were  held  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  People  met  in  the  open  air. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  11 

in  churches,  and  court-houses,  to  express  their  horror 
of  the  oppressors,  and  their  sympathy  with  the  op 
pressed.  I  have  examined  the  proceedings  of  no  less 
than  sixty-seven  of  these  meetings,  of  which  twenty- 
seven  were  held  in  Virginia,  and  all  but  one  in  places 
south  of  New  England.  The  day  that  the  Port  Bill 
went  into  operation  was  one  of  gloom  and  sadness 
everywhere  ;  and  the  predictions,  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  that  it  would  produce  a  general  confed 
eration,  and  end  in  a  general  revolt,  were  of  rapid 
fulfilment. 

In  their  opposition  to  the  Navigation  Act  and 
Laws  of  Trade,  the  merchants  and  ship-owners  were 
entirely  right.  Obedience  to  humane  laws  is  due  from 
every  member  of  the  community.  But  the  barbar 
ous  code  of  commercial  law,  which  disgraced  the 
statute  book  of  England  for  the  exact  century  which 
intervened  between  the  introduction  and  expulsion 
of  her  Colonial  collectors  and  other  officers  of  the 
customs,  was  entitled  to  no  respect  whatever. 

The  commercial  code  was  so  stern  and  cruel,  that 
an  American  merchant  was  compelled  to  evade  a  law 
of  the  realm,  in  order  to  give  a  sick  neighbor  an 
orange  or  cordial  of  European  origin,  or  else  obtain 
them  legally,  loaded  with  the  time,  risk,  and  expense 
of  a  voyage  from  the  place  of  growth  or  manufacture 
to  England,  and  thence  to  his  own  warehouse.  An 
American  ship-owner  or  ship-master,  when  wrecked 
on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  was  not  allowed  to  unlade 
his  cargo  on  the  shore  where  his  vessel  was  stranded, 
but  was  required  to  send  his  merchandise  to  Eng 
land,  when,  if  originally  destined  for,  or  wanted  in? 
the  Irish  market,  an  English  vessel  might  carry  it 


12  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

thither.  At  the  North,  a  market  for  all  the  dried  fish 
which  were  caught  was  indispensable  to  the  prosecu 
tion  of  the  fisheries.  But  the  policy  of  the  mother 
country  provided  penalties,  and  the  confiscation  of 
vessel  and  cargo,  for  a  sale  of  such  proportion  of  the 
annual  u  catch"  as  was  unfit  for  her  own  ports,  or  was 
not  wanted  in  her  own  possessions  in  the  Caribean 
Sea,  if  carried  to  the  islands  which  owrned  subjection 
to  France  or  Spain.  These  were  sonic  of  the  features 
of  the  odious  system  which  prevailed,  and  which  was 
never  abolished,  until  American  vessels  went  out 
upon  the  ocean  under  a  new  flag. 

Nine  tenths,  probably,  of  all  the  tea,  wine,  fruit, 
sugar,  and  molasses,  consumed  in  the  Colonies,  were 
smuggled.  To  put  an  end  to  this  illicit  traffic  was 
the  determined  purpose  of  the  ministry.  The  com 
manders  of  the  ships  of  war  on  the  American  sta 
tion  were  accordingly  commissioned  as  officers  of  the 
customs  ;  and,  to  quicken  their  zeal,  they  were  to 
share  in  the  proceeds  of  confiscations ;  the  courts  to 
decide  upon  the  lawfulness  of  seiy,ures,  were  to  be 
composed  of  a  single  judge,  without  a  jury,  whose 
emoluments  were  to  be  derived  from  his  own  con 
demnations  ;  the  governors  of  the  Colonies  and  the 
military  officers  were  to  be  rewarded  for  their  ac 
tivity  by  sharing,  also,  either  in  the  property  con 
demned,  or  in  the  penalties  annexed  to  the  inter 
dicted  trade.  Boston  was  the  great  offender;  and 
soon  twelve  ships  of  war,  mounting  no  less  than  two 
hundred  and  sixty  guns,  were  assembled  in  the  har 
bor  of  that  port,  for  revenue  service  on  the  Atlantic 
coast.  The  merchants  of  the  sea-ports  were  roused 
to  preserve  their  business;  and  when  the  controversy 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  13 

came  to  blows,  lawyers  who  had  espoused  their  cause 
in  the  mere  course  of  professional  duty,  were  among 
the  efficient  advocates  for  liberty.  One  quarter  part 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
were  bred  to  trade,  or  to  the  command  of  ships,1  and 
more  than  one  of  them  was  branded  with  the  epithet 
of  "  smuuro'ler."  It  was  fit,  then,  that  Hancock,  who, 

oo 

at  the  shedding  of  blood  at  Lexington,  was  respond 
ent  in  the  Admiralty  Court,  in  suits  of  the  Crown,  to 
recover  nearly  half  a  million  of  dollars  as  penalties 
alleged  to  have  been  incurred  for  violations  of  the 
statute-book :  it  was  fit  that  he  should  be  the  first  to 
affix  his  name  to  an  instrument  which,  if  made  good, 
would  save  him  from  ruin,  and  give  his  countrymen 
free  commerce  with  all  the  world. 

In  conclusion,  a  single  word  more.  The  Loyalists 
who,  at  the  peace,  removed  to  the  present  British 
Colonies,  and  their  children  after  them,  smuggled 
almost  every  article  of  foreign  origin  from  the  fron 
tier  ports  of  the  United  States,  for  more  than  half  a 
century,  and  until  England  relaxed  her  odious  com 
mercial  policy.  The  merchant  in  whose  counting- 
house  I  myself  was  bred,  sold  the  "old  Tories"  and 
their  descendants  large  quantities  of  tea,  wine,  spices, 
silks,  crapes,  and  other  articles,  as  a  part  of  his  regu 
lar  business.  I  have  not  room  to  relate  the  plans 
devised  by  sellers  and  buyers  to  elude  the  officers  of 
the  Crown,  or  the  perils  incurred  by  the  latter,  at 
times,  while  crossing  the  Bay  of  Fundy  on  their  pas- 

1  John  Hancock,  John  Langdon,  Samuel  Adams,  William  Whipple, 
George  Clymer,  Stephen  Hopkins,  Francis  Lewis,  Philip  Livingston,  El- 
bridge  (Jerry,  Joseph  Ilewes,  George  Taylor,  Roger  Sherman,  Button 
Gwinnett,  and  Robert  Morris. 

VOL.  i.  2 


14  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

sage  homeward.  But  I  cannot  forbear  the  remark, 
that,  as  the  finding  of  a  single  box  of  contraband  tea 
caused  the  confiscation  of  vessel  and  cargo,  the 
smugglers  kept  vigilant  watch  with  glasses,  and  com 
mitted  the  fatal  herb  to  the  sea,  the  instant  a  rev 
enue  cutter  or  ship  of  war  hove  in  sight  in  a  quarter 
to  render  capture  probable.  When  a  spectator  of 
the  scene,  as  I  often  was,  howr  could  I  but  say  to  my 
self,  —  "  The  destruction  of  tea  in  Boston,  December, 
1773,  in  principle,  how  like  !  " 


CHAPTER   II. 

State  of  Political  Parties  in  the  New  England  Colonies. 

LEAVING  here  this  course  of  general  remark,  1  pro 
pose  to  take  a  view  of  the  revolutionary  controversy, 
and  of  the  state  of  parties,  in  each  Colony  separately 
and  in  course.  And  first  in  Massachusetts'  Colony  of 
Maine.  Of  the  immense  domains,  embracing  almost 
the  half  of  our  continent,  which,  in  1620,  King  James 
conferred  upon  those  gentlemen  of  his  court  who, 
in  popular  language,  are  known  as  the  "  Council  of 
Plymouth,"  Maine  formed  a  part.  Among  the  most 
distinguished  members  of  this  Council  was  Sir  Fer- 
dinando  Gorges ;  to  whom,  and  to  John  Mason,  the 
Council,  two  years  after  the  date  of  their  own  pat 
ent,  conveyed  all  the  lands  and  "  fishings  "  between 
the  rivers  Merrimack  and  Sagadahoc.  Subsequently, 
and  rapidly,  other  grants  covered  the  same  soil,  and 
angry  and  endless  contentions  followed.  But  Gorges, 
bent  on  leaving  his  name  in  our  annals,  obtained  of 
Charles  the  First  a  grant  for  himself,  individually,  of 
the  territory  between  the  Piscataqua  and  Sagada 
hoc,  and  thence  from  the  sea  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  northward.  These  were  the  ancient 
limits  of  the  "  Province  of  Maine."  Having  now  a 
sort  of  double  title,  Gorges  might  reasonably  hope 
that  his  rights  were  perfect,  and  that  he  might  pur 
sue  his  plans  without  interruption.  But  Massachu- 


16  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

setts,  on  the  one  hand,  insisted  that  her  boundaries 
were  narrowed  by  the  grants  to  Mason  and  himself; 
while  the  Council,  on  the  other,  with  inexcusable  care 
lessness  or  dishonesty,  continued  to  alienate  the  very 
soil  which  he  held,  both  from  themselves  and  their 
common  master.  Thu*s  he  was  harassed  his  life  long, 
and  went  to  his  grave  old  and  worn  out  with  per 
plexities  and  the  political  sufferings  and  losses  of  a 
most  troubled  period.  He  was  a  soldier,  and  a  tried 
friend  of  the  Stuarts  in  their  times  of  need,  of  which 
their  reigns  were  full,  and  was  plundered  and  impris 
oned  in  their  wars. 

Thus,  then,  Maine  was  not  founded  by  a  Puritan. 
But  after  the  death  of  Gorges,  his  son  deemed  his 
possessions  in  America  of  little  or  no  worth,  and  took 
no  pains  to  retain  them,  or  to  carry  out  his  designs  ; 
and  his  grandson,  to  whom  his  rights  descended,  gave 
to  Massachusetts  a  full  assignment  and  release  for  the 
insignificant  consideration  of  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  sterling;  a  sum  less  than  one  sixteenth  of  the 
amount  which  had  been  actually  expended.  By  this 
purchase,  however,  Massachusetts  acquired  only  a  part 
of  Maine  as  now  constituted.  France  made  preten 
sions  to  all  that  part  lying  east  of  the  Penobscot,  and 
the  Duke  of  York  to  the  part  between  the  Penobscot 
and  the  Kennebec  ;  nor  was  it  until  the  reign  of  Wil 
liam  and  Mary,  that  disputes  about  boundaries  were 
merged,  and  the  St.  Croix  and  Piscataqua  became  the 
acknowledged  charter  frontiers. 

Soon  after  the  bargain  was  made  with  Gorges's 
heir,  Massachusetts  lost  her  own  charter;  and  it  was 
not  among  the  least  of  the  causes  of  Charles's  anger 
against  her,  that  she  had  thwarted  his  design  of  pro- 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY,  17 

curing  Maine  for  his  natural  son,  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
mouth.  The  newly  acquired  province  was  thought 
valuable  only  for  its  forests  of  pine,  and  for  the  fish 
eries  of  its  coasts.  But  Massachusetts  had  objects 
beyond  cutting  down  trees  and  casting  fishing-lines. 
Her  "  presumption  "  in  crossing  the  path  of  royalty 
has  often  been  condemned.  But  the  citizens  of 
Maine  cannot  too  often  commend  the  indomitable 
spirit  which  she  evinced  in  her  struggle  to  root  out 
Gorges  and  the  Cavaliers  or  Monarchists  of  his  plant 
ing,  and  to  put  in  their  place  the  humbler  but  purer 
Roundheads  or  Puritans  of  her  own  kindred.  Had  she 
faltered,  when  dukes  and  lords  signed  parchments  that 
conveyed  away  soil  which  she  claimed;  had  she  not 
sought  to  push  her  sovereignty  over  men  and  terri 
tories  not  originally  her  own ;  had  she  not  broken 
down  French  seigniories  and  English  feofldoms, 
Maine,  east  of  Gorges's  eastern  boundary,  might 
have  continued  a  part  of  the  British  empire  to  this 
hour.  This  opinion  is  given  considerately,  and  not 
to  round  out  a  period.  And  whoever  will  consult 
the  diplomacy  of  1783,  will  learn  that,  crcn  as  ii  was, 
the  British  Commissioners  contended  that  the  Ken- 
nebec  should  divide  the  thirteen  States  from  the  Col 
onies  which  had  remained  true  to  the  crown. 

Yet  fishing  and  lumbering  continued  to  be  the  two 
great  branches  of  industry  in  Maine,  until  the  Revo 
lution.  The  new  charter,  procured  of  William  and 
Mary,  confirmed  Massachusetts  in  her  acquisitions 
east  of  the  Piscataqua;  but  it  contained  several  re 
strictions  which  bore  hard  upon  both  of  these  inter 
ests.  The  most  prominent  I  shall  briefly  notice,  be 
cause  they  had  a,  direct  influence  in  the  formation 


18  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

of  political  parties.  And,  first,  that  instrument  pro 
vided,  that  all  pine-trees,  of  the  diameter  of  twenty- 
four  inches  at  more  than  a  foot  from  the  ground,  on 
lands  not  granted  to  private  persons,  should  be  re 
served  for  masts  for  the  royal  navy  ;  and  that,  for 
cutting  down  any  such  tree  without  special  leave, 
the  offender  should  forfeit  one  hundred  pounds  ster 
ling.  This  stipulation  was  the  source  of  ceaseless 
disquiet,  and  it  introduced,  to  guard  the  forests  from 
depredation,  an  officer  called  the  "  Surveyor-General 
of  the  King's  Woods."  Between  this  functionary, 
who  enjoyed  a  high  salary,  considerable  perquisites, 
and  great  power,  and  the  lumberers,  there  was  no 
love.  The  officials  of  the  day,  who  were  now  of 
royal  appointment,  and  not,  as  under  the  first  char 
ter,  elected  by  the  people,  generally  ranged  them 
selves  on  the  side  of  the  surveyors,  their  deputies 
and  menials ;  while  the  House  of  Representatives,  as 
commonly,  opposed  their  doings,  and  countenanced 
the  popular  clamors  against  them.  Nor  were  the 
controversies,  caused  by  the  efforts  of  the  surveyors 
to  preserve  spars  for  the  royal  navy,  confined  to  the 
halls  of  legislation  in  Massachusetts.  For,  beside 
these,  and  the  frequent  quarrels  in  the  woods  and  at 
the  saw-mills,  the  disputes  between  the  parties  were 
carried  to  the  Board  of  Trade  in  England.  There 
seemed,  indeed,  in  the  judgment  of  several  of  the 
colonial  governors,  no  way  for  them  to  please  their 
royal  master  more,  than  by  discoursing  about  the 
care  which  should  be  exercised  over  the  "mast-trees," 
and  about  the  severity  with  which  the  statute-book 
should  provide  against  "  trespassers."  In  a  word, 
prerogative  and  the  popular  sentiment  never  agreed. 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  19 

Discussions  about  the  forests  of  Maine  again  and  again 
ended  in  wrangles.  Friendships  were  broken  up,  and 
enmities  created  for  life.  This  is  emphatically  true 
of  Shute's  administration,  when  Cooke,  the  Counsel 
lor  of  Sagadahoc,  and  the  champion  of  the  "  fierce 
democracy  "  —  as  his  father  had  been  before  him  - 
involved  the  whole  government  of  Massachusetts  in 
disputes,  which,  in  the  end,  drove  the  Governor  home 
to  England.  And  so,  subsequently,  a  forged  letter, 
probably  written  by  "  trespassers  "  or  their  friends  to 
Sir  Charles  Wager,  first  lord  of  the  Admiralty,  charg 
ing  Governor  Belcher  with  conniving  with  depreda 
tors,  though  seemingly  aiding  the  king's  surveyor, 
-that  "Irish  dog  of  a  D unbar,"  - —did  its  intended 
work.  Shirley,  Belcher's  successor,  when  he  pressed 
upon  the  House  the  necessity  of  further  enactments 
to  protect  the  masts  and  spars  for  the  royal  navy, 
and  to  punish  those  who  obstructed  or  annoyed  the 
royal  agents,  was  tartly  told  in  substance,  by  that 
body :  "  Our  laws  are  sufficient ;  we  have  done  our 
duty  in  passing  them  ;  let  the  crown  officers  do  their 
duty  in  enforcing  them."  Hutchinson,  for  a  like  call 
upon  the  House,  was  in  like  manner  reminded,  in 
terms  hardly  more  civil,  that  there  were  already 
charter  and  statute  penalties  for  "  trespassers,"  a  sur 
veyor-general  and  deputies,  and  courts  of  law  ;  and 
that,  provided  with  these,  he  must  look  to  the  pines 
"  twenty-four  inches  in  diameter,  upwards  of  twelve 
inches  from  the  ground,"  for  himself.  The  means  for 
dealing  with  offenders,  it  must  be  confessed,  were  am 
ple  :  the  crown  could  try  them  in  the  Court  of  Ad 
miralty,  where  there  was  no  jury ;  upon  conviction 
for  a  common  trespass,  a  fine  of  .£100  could  be  im- 


20  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

posed  ;  and  for  the  additional  misdeed  of  plunder 
ing  the  interdicted  trees  under  a  painted  or  disguised 
face,  twenty  lashes  could  be  laid  on  the  culprit's  back; 
while,  more  than  all,  convictions  could  be  had  on 
probable  guilt,  unless  the  accused  would,  on  oath,  de 
clare  his  innocence. 

But  there  was  no  such  thing  as  executing  these 
laws,  when  it  -was  the  popular  impression  that  the 
woods  were  "  the  gifts  as  well  as  the  growth  of  na 
ture  ; "  and  that  the  king's  right  to  them  was  merely 
"  nominal,"  at  the  most.  The  provision  of  the  charter 
was  both  unwise  and  unjust.  To  reserve  to  the  crown 
a  thousand  times  as  many  trees  as  it  could  ever  re 
quire,  and  to  allow  all  to  decay  that  were  not  actually 
used,  was  absurd.  Men  of  the  most  limited  capacity 
saw  and  felt  this  ;  and  to  wean  them  from  a  power 
which  insisted,  in  spite  of  all  remonstrance,  in  enforc 
ing  the  absurdity,  was  an  easy  task.  And  we  can 
readily  imagine,  what  indeed  is  true,  that  the  wood 
men  of  Maine,  when  rid,  by  the  Revolution,  of  the 
presence  of  surveyor-generals  and  their  deputies,  ex 
ulted  as  heartily  as  did  the  peasants  of  France,  when 
the  outbreak  there  abolished  forest  laws  somewhat 
dissimilar,  but  equally  obnoxious. 

Again.     The  action  of  Parliament  with  regard  to 

O  o 

taxing  lumber,  admitting  it  free,  or  even  encourag 
ing  its  exportation,  by  bounties,  wras  eagerly  wratched. 
The  mother  country  pursued  all  of  these  courses  at 
different  times,  and  gave  dissatisfaction,  or  created 
discontent,  among  the  getters  and  dealers  in  the  ar 
ticle,  as  changes  occurred  in  her  policy  ;  just  as  she 
does  now,  with  those  Colonial  possessions  which  yet 
remain  to  her.  The  "mast-ships"  at  the  North,  like 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  21 

the  "  tobacco-ships  "  at  the  South,  -were  tlie  common, 
and  oftentimes  the  only,  means  for  crossing  the  ocean; 
and  royal  governors  and  other  high  personages  were 
occasionally  compelled  to  embark  in  them.  In  these 
clumsy,  ill-shapen  vessels,  also  went  ladies  and  lovers 
to  visit  friends  in  that  distant  land,  which  some  Amer 
icans  yet  call  "  home."  Merchandise,  fashions,  and 
the  last  novel  had  a  slow  voyage  back  ;  but  men  and 
maidens  were  models  of  patience,  and  the  arrival  of 
the  eleven  weeks  "  mast-er"  gave  as  much  joy  when 
all  was  safe,  as  does  the  eleven  days  steamer  now. 
In  port,  while  loading,  the  "  mast-ships  "  were  objects 
of  interest,  and  their  decks  and  cabins  the  scenes  of 
hilarity  and  mirth.  We  read  of  illuminations  and 
firings  of  cannon,  of  frolics  and  feasts. 

The  mast-trade  was  confined  to  England  ;  and  the 
transportation  of  spars  thither,  and  of  the  sawed  and 
shaved  woods  required  by  the  planter,  to  islands  in 
the  West  Indies  possessed  by  the  British  crown,  was 
about  the  only  lawful  modes  of  exporting  lumber  for  a 
long  period.  By  the  statute-book,  the  "king's  mark'' 
was  as  much  to  be  dreaded  by  the  mariner  and  the 
owner  of  the  vessel,  as  by  the  "  logger  "  and  the  "mill- 
man."  But  the  revenue  officers  caused  less  fear  than 
the  surveyors  of  the  woods,  until  fleets  and  armies 
were  employed  to  aid  them  ;  when  the  interdicted 
trade  with  the  French  and  Spanish  islands,  which  had 
been  carried  on  by  a  sort  of  prescriptive  right,  was 
nearly,  if  not  entirely,  broken  up.  No  enactments  of 
the  mother  country  operated  to  keep  down  Northern 
industry  so  effectually,  poorly  as  they  were  obeyed, 
as  the  navigation  and  trade  laws;  and  on  none  did 
they  bear  more  severely  than  on  that  portion  of  the 


22  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

people,  whose  position  or  necessities  left  them  no 
choice  of  employments.  There  were  some,  nor  were 
they  few,  who  were  obliged  to  plunder  the  forests, 
and  to  work  up  trees  into  marketable  shapes,  or 
starve.  Included  with  these  inhabitants  of  Maine, 
were  those  who  lived  upon  the  coasts  —  the  mari 
ners  and  the  fishermen.  The  interests  of  all  these 
classes  were  identical ;  and  to  them  the  maritime  pol 
icy  of  the  government  of  England  was  cruel  in  the 
extreme ;  since  it  robbed  unremitting  toil  of  half 
its  reward.  Lumber  and  fish  were  inseparable  com 
panions  in  every  adventure  to  the  islands  in  the  Car 
ibbean  sea.  Enterprises  to  get  either  were  hazard 
ous,  at  the  best ;  and,  as  practical  men  can  readily 
perceive,  all  who  engaged  in  obtaining  them,  were 
obliged  then,  as  they  are  now,  to  seek  different  mar 
kets  ;  so  that  to  shut  some  marts,  when  access  to  all 
would  barely  remunerate  the  adventurers,  was,  in 
effect,  to  close  the  whole.  These  employments  were, 
as  they  still  are,  among  the  most  difficult  and  severe 
in  the  whole  round  of  human  pursuits ;  and  attempts 
to  alleviate  the  burdens  of  parliamentary  legislation 
upon  both  were  made  in  Massachusetts,  long  before  a 
whisper  of  discontent  was  elsewhere  uttered  in  Amer 
ica.  The  discussions  in  that  Colony,  in  behalf  of  her 
citizens  at  home  and  of  those  in  Maine  who  were  en 
gaged  in  getting  and  transporting  the  products  of  the 
forest  and  of  the  sea,  though  commenced  without  ref 
erence  to  separation  from  the  mother  country,  took 
fast  hold  of  the  public  mind.  When,  then,  Otis  at 
length  spoke  out,  thousands  who  never  heard  or  read 
his  reasonings,  and  might  not  have  felt  their  force  if 
they  had,  were  ready,  at  the  first  call,  to  clear  the 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  23 

woods,  and  docks,  and  warehouses,  and  decks  of  ves 
sels  of  the  "swarms  of  officers"  who  "harassed"  them, 
and  u  eat  out  their  substance." 

The  troubles  which  I  have  now  enumerated,  the 
disputes  which  grew  out  of  the  question,  whether,  as 
the  territories  purchased  of  Gorges  had  never  revert 
ed  to  the  crown,  the  surveyor-general's  'duty  did,  in 
fact,  require  him  to  mark  and  protect  the  mast-trees 
within  their  limits,  and  especially  the  charter  inhibi 
tion  of  grants  east  of  the  Kennebec  without  the  king's 
consent,  kept  out  settlers,  held  titles  in  suspense,  and 
were  sufficient  not  only  to  alienate  the  affections  of 
the  people  from  the  British  crown,  but  to  confine 
them  to  a  narrow  belt  of  country. 

As  may  be  supposed,  the  body  of  the  people  were 
Whigs.  Still,  Maine  had  a  considerable  number  of 
Loyalists  or  Tories.  To  afford  them  a  place  of  refuge 
and  protection  was  the  principal  object,  as  I  have  been 
led  to  conclude,  of  establishing  a  military  post  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Penobscot.  The  descendants  of  Loyal 
ists  who  found  shelter  in  the  garrison  at  Castine,  rep 
resent  that  it  was  thronged  with  adherents  of  the 
crown  and  their  families ;  and,  after  the  discomfiture 
of  Saltonstall  and  Lovell,  they  were  left  in  undis 
turbed  quiet  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  The 
names  of  all  the  Tories  of  Maine  who  were  proscribed 
and  banished  under  the  act^of  Massachusetts,  as  well 
as  many  others,  will  be  found  in  their  proper  connec 
tions. 

~~j 

In    passing   from    Maine    to  New  Hampshire, 
shall  find   the  general   state   of  things  very  similar. 
The  occupations  of  the  people  of  the  two  Colonies 
were  much   alike.     New  Hampshire,  though  not  an 


24  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

appendage  of  Massachusetts  in  1775,  had  been  twice 
annexed  to  the  mother  of  New  England,  and  had  thus 
acquired  much  of  her  spirit.  Collisions  between  the 
revenue  officers  and  the  mariners  and  ship-owners  of 
Portsmouth,  and  between  the  guardians  of  the  "king's 
woods  "  and  the  lumberers  of  the  interior,  had  been 
frequent,  Indeed  the  "  loggers  "  and  "  sawyers  "  had 
whipped  the  deputies  of  the  surveyor-general  so  often 
and  so  severely,  that  the  term  "  sivamp-laiv  "  was  quite 
as  significant  a  phrase  as  that  of  "  lynch-law "  in  our 
own  time.  Yet,  as  will  appear,  the  Whigs  had  many 

(  and  powerful  opponents  in   the   Colony  planted   by 
Mason,  the  associate  patentee  of  Gorges. 

With  regard  to  Massachusetts,  it  seems  to  have 
been  taken  as  granted,  that,  because  here  the  Revo- 

'lution  had  its  origin;  because  the  old  Bay  State  fur 
nished  a  large  part  of  the  men  and  the  means  to  carry 
it  forward  to  a  successful  issue;  and  because,  in  a  word, 
she  fairly  exhausted  herself  in  the  struggle,  the  people 
embraced  the  popular  side,  almost  in  a  mass.  A  more 
mistaken  opinion  than  this  has  seldom  prevailed. 

The  second  charter,  or  that  granted  by  William 
and  Mary,  had  several  obnoxious  provisions  besides 
those  which  had  peculiar  reference  to  Maine,  and  its 
acceptance  was  violently  opposed.  And  Phips,  the 
Earl  of  Bellarnont,  Shute,  Burnet,  Belcher,  Shirley, 
and  Pownall,  the  several  governors  who  were  ap 
pointed  by  the  crown  under  one  of  these  provisions, 
encountered  embarrassments  and  difficulties,  and  some 
of  them  were  actually  driven  from  the  executive  chair 
by  the  force  of  party  heats.  In  fact,  the  "old-charter." 
or  "liberty-men,"  arrayed  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
"  new-charter,"  or  "  prerogative-men,"  on  the  other. 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  25 

kept  up  a  continual  warfare.  When,  then,  in  the 
quarrel,  which  was  commenced  with  Bernard,  which 
was  continued  with  Hutchinson  and  Gage,  his  suc 
cessors,  and  which  finally  spread  over  the  continent 
and  severed  the  British  empire,  the  terms  "Whig" 
and  "  Tory  "  were  employed,  they  were  not  used  to 
distinguish  new  parties,  but  were  simply  epithets  bor 
rowed  from  the  politics  of  the  mother  country,  and 
did  but  take  the  place  of  the  party  names  which  had 
previously  existed,  and  under  which  political  leaders 
had  long  moved  and  trained  their  followers.  As  the 
Revolutionary  controversy  darkened,  individuals  of 
note  did  indeed  change  sides ;  but,  though  some 
of  our  writers  have  hardly  mentioned  that  such  a 
state  of  things  preceded  the  momentous  conflict,  the 
general  truth  was  as  I  have  stated. 

As  some  further  details  of  the  state  of  parties  in 
Massachusetts  will  be  given  in  another  connection,  a 
brief  notice  of  the  Loyalists  who  abandoned  their 
homes  and  the  country  will  serve  my  present  pur 
pose.  Of  this  description,  upwards  of  eleven  hun 
dred  retired  in  a  body  with  the  royal  army  at  the 
evacuation  of  Boston.  This  number  includes,  of 
course,  women  and  children.  Among  the  men,  how 
ever,  were  many  persons  of  distinguished  rank  and 
consideration.  Of  members  of  the  council,  commis 
sioners,  officers  of  the  customs  and  other  officials, 
there  were  one  hundred  and  two ;  of  clergymen, 
eighteen ;  of  inhabitants  of  country  towns,  one  him. 
dred  and  five  ;  of  merchants  and  other  persons  who 
resided  in  Boston,  two  hundred  and  thirteen ;  of 
farmers,  mechanics,  and  traders,  three  hundred  and 
eighty-two. 

VOL.    I.  3 


26  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

Other  emigrations  preceded  and  succeeded  this ; 
but  they  consisted  principally  of  individuals,  or  small 
parties  of  intimate  friends,  or  families  and  their  im 
mediate  connections.  But  the  whole  number  who 
embarked  at  different  ports  of  Massachusetts,  pend 
ing  the  controversy  and  during  the  war,  w^ere,  as  I 
am  inclined  to  believe,  two  thousand,  at  the  lowest 
computation.  The  names  and  the  fate  of  a  consider 
able  proportion  of  them  will  be  found  in  these  pages. 
Most  of  them  took  passage  for  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia, 
where  they  endured  great  privations.  Many,  how 
ever,  subsequently  went  to  England,  and  there  passed 
'the  remainder  of  their  lives. 

Ehode  Island  and  Connecticut  may  be  considered 
together.  There  is  but  little  to  detain  us  in  either. 
Both  were  governed  by  charters  like  Massachusetts, 
and  both  wrere  "  pure  democracies,"  since,  says  Chal 
mers,  "  the  freemen  exercised  without  restraint  every 
power,  deliberate  and  executive.  Like  Eagusa  and 
San  Marino,  in  the  Old  World,  they  offered  an  exam 
ple  to  the  New,  of  two  little  republics  embosomed 
within  a  great  empire."  In  1704,  Montpesson,  the 
Chief  Justice  of  New  York,  wrote  to  Lord  Notting 
ham,  that  when  he  "was  at  Rhode  Island,  they  did  in 
all  things  as  if  they  were  out  of  the  dominions  of  the 
crown."  Of  Connecticut,  at  the  same  period,  Chal 
mers  remarks,  that,  "  being  inhabited  by  a  people  of 
the  same  principles  though  of  a  different  religion, 
they  acted  the  same  political  part  as  those  of  Rhode 
Island;"  and  he  quotes  from  a  dispatch  of  Lord  Corn- 
bury  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  the  pithy  saying,  that 
the  inhabitants  of  these  Colonies  "  hate  everybody 
that  owns  any  subjection  to  the  Queen"  [Anne]. 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  27 

The  Revolution,  which  so  essentially  affected  the 
governments  of  most  of  the  Colonies,  produced  no 
very  perceptible  alteration  in  those  of  either  Rhode 
Island  or  Connecticut.  After  Wanton,  the  governor 
of  the  first,  was  deposed,  the  Whigs  succeeded  to 
power  without  turmoil,  and  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  legislative  action.  Trimibull,  the  governor  of  the 
latter,  was  a  sound  Whig,  and  occupied  the  executive 
chair  from  1769  to  1783.  The  charters  of  both  Col 
onies  were  admirably  adapted  to  their  wants  and  con 
dition,  whether  regarded  as  dependencies  or  as  free 
States  ;  and  while  Connecticut  continued  without  any 
other  fundamental  law  until  the  year  1818,  Rhode 
Island  has  but  lately  recovered  from  the  disquiets 
and  animosities  occasioned  by  the  adoption  of  a  Con 
stitution. 

Yet,  though  less  restrained  by  charter  provisions 
than  Massachusetts,  and  though  in  theory  "  pure 
democracies,"  and  bearing  "  hate  "  towards  all  who, 
in  Queen  Anne's  time,  acknowledged  her  authority, 
there  was  no  greater  unanimity  of  sentiment  on  the 
questions  which  agitated  the  country  in  1775,  than 
elsewhere  in  New  England.  Indeed,  I  feel  assured 
that,  in  Connecticut,  the  number  of  adherents  of  the 
crown  was  greater,  in  proportion  to  the  population, 
than  in  Maine,  Massachusetts,  or  New  Hampshire. 
This  impression  is  warranted  by  documentary  evi 
dence,  and  is  fully  sustained  by  facts,  which  have 
been  communicated  to  me  by  descendants  of  Loyal 
ists  of  that  Colony. 


CHAPTER    III. 

State  of  Political  Parties  in  the  Middle  Colonies. 

IN  passing  from  New  England,  we  are  to  speak  of 
American  Colonists  of  different  origin,  and  who  lived 
under  different  forms  of  government,  Thus,  New 
York  had  no  charter,  but  was  governed  by  royal  in 
structions,  orders  in  council,  and  similar  authority, 
communicated  to  the  governors  by  the  ministers  "  at 
home."  The  governor  and  council  were  appointed 
by  the  king,  but  vacancies  at  the  council  board  were 
filled  by  the  governor.  The  people  elected  the  popu 
lar  branch,  which  consisted  of  twenty-seven  members. 
To  say  that  the  political  institutions  of  New  York 
formed  a  feudal  aristocracy  ^  is  to  define  them  with  tol- 
/  erable  accuracy.  The  soil  was  held  by  a  fewT.  The 
masses  were  mere  retainers  or  tenants,  as  in  the  mon 
archies  of  Europe.  Nor  has  this  condition  of  society 
bee_n  e_nJrreJy  changed,  since  the  "anti-rent"  dissen 
sions  of  our  own  time  arose  from  the  vestige  which 
remains. 

.Such  a  state  of  things  was  calculated  to  give  the 
king  many_  adherents.  The  fact  agreed  with  the 
theory.  Details  may  be  spared.  One  circumstance 
will  prove  the  preponderance  of  the  royal  party  be 
yond  all  doubt ;  namely,  that  soon  after  the  close  of 
the  Revolution,  a  bill  passed  the  House  of  Assembly, 
which  prohibited  persons  who  had  been  in  opposition 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  29 

from  holding  any  office  under  the  State.  This  bill, 
on  being  sent  to  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature, 
was  rejected,  and  on  the  ground  principally,  that 
if  allowed  to  become  a  law,  no  elections  could  be 
held  in  some  parts  of  the  State,  inasmuch  as  there 
were  not  a  sufficient  number  of  Whigs,  in  certain 
sections,  to  preside  at  or  conduct  the  election  meet 


ings. 


While  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  people  of  New 
York  preferred  to  continue  their  connection  with  the 
mother  country,  very  many  of  them  entered  the  mili 
tary  service  of  the  crown,  and  fought  in  defence  of 
their  principles.  Whole  battalions,  and  even  regi 
ments,  were  raised  by  the  great  landholders,  and 
continued  organized  and  in  pay  throughout  the 
strugghjXjii  hne,  New  York  was  undeniably  the 
Loyalists'  stronghold,  and  contained  more  of  them 
than  any  other  colony  in  all  America.  I  will  not  say 
that  she  devoted  her  resources  of  men  and  of  money 
to  the  cause  of  the  enemy;  but  I  do  say,  that  she 
withheld  many  of  the  one,  and  much  of  the  other, 
from  the  cause  of  the  right.  Massachusetts  furnished 
67,007  Whig  soldiers  between  the  years  1775  and 
1783;  while  New  York  supplied  but  17,781.  In  ad 
justing  the  war  balances,  after  the  peace,  Massachu 
setts,  as  was  then  ascertained,  had  overpaid  her  share 
in  the  sum  of  1,248,801  dollars  of  silver  money ;  but  ' 
New  York  was  deficient  in  the  large  amount  of 
2,074,846  dollars.  New  Hampshire,  though  almost  a 
wilderness,  furnished  12,496  troops  for  the  continental 
ranks,  or  quite  three  quarters  of  the  number  enlisted^, 
in  the  "  Empire  State." 

These  facts  show  the  state  of  parties  in  this  Colony 


SO  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

iii  a  strong  light.  One  other  incident,  which  presents 
the  wavering,  time-serving  course  that  prevailed,  even 
after  Washington  had  been  appointed  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  army,  and  when,  of  course,  the  whole 
country  was  committed  to  sustain  him,  will  suffice. 
On  the  25th  of  June,  1775,  a  letter  was  received  by 
the  New  York  Provincial  Congress,  which  communi 
cated  intelligence  that  the  Commander-in-chief  was 
on  his  way  to  headquarters  at  Cambridge,  and  would 
cross  the  Hudson  and  visit  the  city.  "  News  came  at 
the  same  time,"  says  Mr.  Sparks,  "that  Governor 
Try  on  was  in  the  harbor,  just  arrived  from  England, 
and  would  land  that  day.  The  Congress  were  a  good 
deal  embarrassed  to  determine  how  to  act  on  this 
occasion;  for  though  they  had  thrown  off  all  allegiance 
to  the  authority  of  their  governor,  they  yet  professed 
to  maintain  loyalty  to  his  person.  They  finally  or 
dered  a  colonel  so  to  dispose  of  his  militia  companies, 
that  they  might  be  in  a  condition  to  receive  '  either 
the  General,  or  Governor  Try  on,  tvhichever  should  first 
arrive,  and  fait  on  loth  as  well  as  circumstances  would 
allow'  Events  proved  less  perplexing  than  had  been 
apprehended,  as  General  Washington  arrived  several 
hours  previous  to  the  landing  of  Governor  Tryon." 
That  a  Congress  of  Whigs  should  have  been  so  irreso 
lute  and  timid,  after  the  blood  of  their  brethren  had 
been  poured  out  at  Lexington  and  on  Breed's  Hill,  is 
unaccountable.  If  such  was  their  conduct,  what  must 
have  been  the  state  of  feeling  among  the  Tories, 
what  the  courage  and  confidence  which  animated 
them  ? 

New  Jersey,  says  Chalmers,  was  "  a  scion  from  New 
York,  and  either  prospered  or  withered,  during  every 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  31 

season,  as  the  stock  flourished  or  declined."  Again 
he  says,  that  planted  by  Independents  from  New 

EnglandrT)X_^2Y^lian^ers  fr°m  Scotland, 'by  conspir 
ators  Jmm-Eiigland,  such  scenes  of  turbulence  were 

exhibited,  ....  age   after  age,  as   acquired 

the  characteristic  appellation  of  '  The  Revolutions.' '' 
Chalmers  was  fond  of  strong  and  pointed  expressions, 
and  some  of  his  statements  are  to  be  received,  there 
fore,  with  allowance.  Tie  saw  —  as  the  students  of 
our  history  well  know  —  designs  to  throw  off  alle 
giance,  to  "  set  up  for  independency,"  and  to  effect 
"Revolutions,"  in  the  common  quarrels  between  the 
Colonial  Assemblies  and  the  Governors,  and  in  the 
ordinary  petitions  to  the  mother  country,  for  redress 
of  real  or  supposed  wrongs. 

New  Jersey  was  indeed  politically  annexed  to  New 
York,  and  the  connection  was  dissolved  and  renewed 
several  times  prior  to  1738.  So,  too,  that  part  of  it 
which  was  'originally  known  as  "  East  Jersey,"  at  one 
period  was  assigned  to  William  Penn ;  while  both 
"East  and  West  Jerse}^"  were  subsequently  added 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  New  England.  In  1702,  the 
"Jersies"  were  united  under  one  government,  and 
received  the  present  name  ;  ( and  from  1738  to  the 
Revolution,  New  Jersey  had  a  separate  Colonial 
government.  The  losses  of  New  Jersey,  in  propor 
tion  to  her  population  and  wealth,  were  greater, 
probably,  than  those  of  any  other  member  of  the 
Confederacy.  Her  soldiers,  who  entered  the  service 
of  Congress,  gained  enviable  renowTi ;  and  within  her 
borders  are  some  of  the  most  memorable  battle 
grounds  of  the  Revolution.  It  wras  in  New  Jersey, 
that  Washington  made  his  best  military  movements, 


32  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

and  displayed  his  highest  qualities  of  character ;  it 
was  there  that  he  encountered  his  greatest  distresses 
and  difficulties,  and  earned  his  most  enduring  laurels. 

We  come  now  to  the  "  proprietary  government  " 
of  Pennsylvania  ;  and  a  proprietary  government  in 
America  was  a  monarchy  in  miniature. 

The  proprietary  governors  were  not,  generally, 
had  men,  but  the  rapacity  of  some  of  them  was  un 
bounded.  Chalmers  quotes  the  remark  as  a  shrewd 
saying,  that  "a  dignitary  of  this  description  had  two 
masters :  one  who  gave  him  his  commission,  and  one 
who  gave  him  his  pay ;  and  that  he  was,  therefore, 
on  his  good  behavior  to  both." ]  Several,  I  suspect, 
cared  very  little  for  either  of  their  two  masters  ;  and 
he  who  said,  that  they  had  three  things  to  attend  to, 
"  First,  to  fleece  the  people  for  the  king,  then  for  them 
selves,  and  lastly,  for  the  proprietaries,  their  employ 
ers,"  told  more  truth,  and  had  more  wit,  than  the 
person  cited  by  our  well-informed  but  much  preju 
diced  annalist, 

It  is  perhaps  true,  that  as  a  body,  the  party  of 
which  Franklin  was  a  member  in  these  dissensions, 
was  the  Whig  party  of  the  Revolution.  Yet,  there 
were  exceptions ;  and  some  of  his  warmest  personal 
and  political  friends  were  found  among  the  adherents 
of  the  crown  ;  while  old  opponents  ranged  themselves 
by  his  side,  and  did  good  service  during  the  trying 
scenes  which  preceded  deeds  of  hostility.  For  a 
time,  the  course  of  Pennsylvania  was  extremely 
doubtful.  Besides  the  differences  which  existed  else- 

1  The  reader  will  find  some  further  particulars  of  the  nature  of  the 
political  institutions  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  biographical  notice  of  John 
Penn. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  33 

where,  the  religious  faith  of  the  people  was  opposed 
to_  the  adoption  of  forcible  means  to  dissolve  their 
connection  with  the  mother  country.  Hence,  as  in 
New  York,  timidity  and  indecision  were  evinced 
among  the  most  prominent  Whigs.  To  me,  the  line 
of  conduct  pursued  by  John  Dickinson  is  a  perfect 
riddle.  His  various,  eloquent,  and  able  tracts  and 
essays,  and  the  important  papers  and  addresses 
which  came  from  his  pen,  between  the  ^  Stamp-act 
Congress"  in  1765  and  the  close  of  the  first  Con 
tinental  Congress  in  1774,  gave  him  a  wide  and  just 
fame.  But  in  the  Congress  of  1770,  he  opposed  the 
passage  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  with 
great  zeal ;  and,  as  John  Adams  was  its  "  great  pillar 
and  support,"  and  "  its  ablest  advocate  and  cham 
pion,"  so  he,  of  all  others,  was  the  uncompromising 
antagonist  of  the  lion-hearted  patriot  of  the  North. 

Unless  Galloway  —  a  name  often  to  appear  in  this 
work  —  was  mistaken,  the  Loyalists  of  the  Middle 
Colonies  were  ready  to  enter  the  military  service  of 
the  crown  in  large  numbers.  His  statement  is,  that, 
had  Sir  William  Howre  issued  a  Proclamation  when  in 
Philadelphia,  3,500  men  would  have  repaired  to  his 
standard;  that,  in  that  city,  in  New  Jersey,  and  in 
New  York,  he  could  have  embodied  quite  5,000;  that 
upwards  of  fifty  gentlemen  went  to  his  camp  to  offer 
their  services  in  disarming  the  disaffected,  but,  fail 
ing  to  obtain  even  an  interview,  retired  in  disgust; 
and  that,  under  Sir  William's  successor.  5.000  actually 
appeared  in  arms  for  the  defence  of  the  city  of  New 
York. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

State  of  Political  Parties  in  the  Southern  Colonies. 

I  HAVE  been  able  to  ascertain  so  little  of  a  definite 
character  of  the  political  condition  of  Delaware  and 
Maryland,  at  the  period  to  which  these  remarks  re 
late,  that  I  shall  detain  the  reader  in  neither;  and 
pass  to  the  "Old  Dominion."  Virginia,  like  New 
York,  was  a  feudal  aristocracy.  But  there  a  large 
proportion  of  the  landholders,  unlike  those  of  New 
York,  were  Whigs,  and,  of  course,  favored  the  revo 
lutionary  movement.  Yet,  it  does  not  appear,  that, 
upon  the  questions  of  dissolving  her  relations  with  the  mother 
country,  she  was  as  ready  as,  from  her  early  and  firm 
opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act,  might  be  expected.  In 
deed,  there  is  the  highest  possible  evidence  for  be 
lieving  that  Virginia  broke  her  Colonial  bonds  with 
hesitation.  Early  in  March,  1776,  Colonel  Joseph 
Eeed,  of  Pennsylvania,  in  a  letter  to  Washington, 
observed,  that  there  was  "  a  strange  reluctance  in 
the  minds  of  many  to  cut  the  knot  which  ties  us 
to  Great  Britain,  particularly  in  this  Colony  and  to  the 
southward"  In  writing  again  on  the  15th  of  the  same 
month,  he  was  more  explicit.  "It  is  said,"-  —are  his 
words.  —  "  the  Virginians  are  so  alarmed  with  the  idea  of 
independence,  that  they  hare  sent  Mr.  Braxton  on  purpose 
to  turn  the  vote  of  that  Colony,  if  any  question  on  that  sub 
ject  should  come  before  Congress!'  Washington,  in  his 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  35 

reply  to  the  letter  of  the  15th,  admits  that  the  people 
of  Virginia,  "from  their  form  of  government,  (did  stcady\  \/ 
attachment  heretofore  to  royalty,  fill  conic  reluctantly  into  I 
the  idea  of  Independence  ;  "  but  says,  that  "  time  and  per 
secution   bring  many  wonderful   things  to  pass,"  and 
that,  by  private  letters  which  he  had  lately  received, 
he  found  Paine's  celebrated  essay,  called  "  Common 
Sense,"  (which  recommended  separation,)  was  "work 
ing  a  powerful  change  in  the  minds  of  many  men." 

This  correspondence,  as  will  be  seen,  occurred  but 
a  little  more  than  three  months  previous  to  the  time 
when  Congress  actually  declared  the  Thirteen  Colo 
nies  to  be  free  and  independent  States ;  and  the 
opinions  of  persons  so  well  informed,  so  intimate  in 
friendship,  and  occupying  so  responsible  public  sta 
tions,  are  to  be  regarded  as  decisive. 

Yet  Washington,  Henry,  the  Lees,  Jefferson,  and 
Bland,  were,  undoubtedly,  the  true  exponents  of  her 
principles. 

The  institutions  of  North  Carolina  were  decidedly 
monarchical  from  the  first.  Political  or  social  disorder 
seems  to  have  prevailed,  to  some  extent,  throughout 
her  colonial  existence.  Martin,  the  last  royal  govern 
or,  stated,  in  1775,  that  literature  was  hardly  known, 
and  that  there  were  but  two  schools  in  the  whole 
Colony.  After  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Stuarts, 
many  of  the  adherents  of  the  last  of  that  name  who 
sought  the  British  throne,  fled  for  refuge  to  America, 
and  settled  within  her  borders.  And  it  was  singular 
that  most  of  them  were  Loyalists;  that  men  Avho 
had  become  exiles  for  the  part  which  they  had  taken 
ayaimt  the  House  of  Brunswick  should  here,  and  in  v 
another  civil  war,  espouse  its  cause,  and,  a  second 


30  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

time  the  losers,  go  a  second  time  into  banishment. 
Equally  remarkable  in  the  politics  of  this  Colony  was 
the  course  of  those  who,  in  1771,  rose  in  insurrection, 
and  were  known  as  "  Regulators."  These  men  com 
plained  of  various  oppressions,  but  especially  of  those 
which  attended  the  practice  of  law  ;  they  appeared 
in  arms,  and  were  determined  to  prostrate  the  gov 
ernment.  Governor  Try  on  totally  defeated  them, 
and  left  three  hundred  of  their  number  dead  on  the 
field.  They  were  the  earliest  revolutionists  in  Amer 
ica  —  as  far  as  hostile  deeds  were  concerned  —  and, 
it  might  be  reasonably  concluded,  became  Whigs. 
But  disappointing  expectation,  like  the  followers  of 
the  Pretender  above  mentioned,  a  large  majority 
joined  the  royal  party,  and  enlisted  under  the  king's 
banner. 

North  Carolina,  then,  originally  monarchical,  and 
adding  to  her  native  Loyalists  the  survivors  of  the 
large  emigration  from  Scotland,  was  nearly  divided. 
Some  of  her  leading  Whigs,  as  well  as  their  descend 
ants,  have  endeavored  to  prove  that  the  popular  party 
was  much  in  the  majority.  Facts,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
hardly  sustain  them. 

How  was  it  with  a  portion  of  the  Whigs  ?  There 
is  proof  that  many  were  as  unstable  as  the  wind.  If 
the  sky  was  bright,  and  a  Whig  victory  had  been  ob 
tained  somewhere,  and  if,  above  all,  no  king's  troops 
were  near,  why,  then  these  changing  men  were  stead 
fast  for  the  right  ;  but  if  news  of  reverses  reached 
them,  or  the  royal  army  came  among  or  near  them, 
then  they  "  supported,"  and,  by  their  own  account, 
"  always  had  supported,  their  lawful  sovereign,  his 
most  gracious  Majesty." 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  37 

I  would  willingly  do  the  Whigs  of  North  Carolina 
no  injustice  ;  on  the  other  hand,  1  would  relieve  them 
from  all  imputations  which  cannot  be  sustained  by 
ample  and  the  most  unobjectionable  testimony.  It  is 
in  this  spirit  that  I  dissent  from  some  of  the  declara 
tions  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  That  distinguished  man,  in 
a  written  statement  made  a  few  years  before  his  de 
cease,  distinctly  alleges,  that  William  Hooper,  one  of 
the  delegates  in  Congress  from  that  State  in  1776, 
was  a  rank  and  out  and  out  Tory.  Mr.  Hooper  was 
born  in  Massachusetts,  and  was  educated  at  Harvard 
University.  His  father,  and  nearly  all  of  his  rela 
tives,  were,  indeed,  Loyalists  :  but  he  was  a  student  of 
James  Otis,  and  imbibed  his  political  sentiments ;  nor 
did  he  leave  New  England  until  after  parties  Avere 
formed  and  the  "  Stamp-Act "  difficulties  had  passed 
away.  1  have  read  several  of  his  confidential  letters 
to  his  friends,  while  he  was  in  .Congress  •  letters  in 
which,  if  he  possessed  the  political  sympathies  attrib 
uted  to  him  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  inclinations  of  his 
mind  would  have  been  shown.  That  he  was  a  timid 
man,  like  Morton  of  Pennsylvania,  is  very  probable. 
Yet,  I  submit  that  no  defence  is  necessary.  Hooper 
signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  and  of  all 
documents  to  which  a  "  Tory  "  would  have  affixed  his 
name,  t/iat,  certainly,  was  among  the  very  last. 

It  is  grateful,  now,  to  turn  to  the  brighter  side,  and 
to  bestow  words  of  praise.  The  original  Whig  party 
of  North  Carolina  embraced  a  large  proportion  of  the 
wealth,  virtue,  and  intelligence  of  the  State.  In  the 
county  of  Bute,  especially,  the  king  had  no  friends, 
except  a  few_Scotcli  merchants  and  vagrant  pedlers ; 
while  the  number  of  wavering  Whigs  was  so  small., 

VOL.  I.  4 


38  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

that  the  county  was  nearly  unanimous  in  favor 
of  the  change  which  the  leaders  advocated,  and  put 
their  fortunes  and  lives  at  hazard  to  obtain.  Nor 
should  it  be  forgotten  that,  in  the  comity  of  Meck- 
lenburgh,  a  Declaration  of  Independence  was  passed 
more  than  a  year  before  the  more  celebrated  instru 
ment  of  the  same  name  was  adopted  by  the  Conti 
nental  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  As  late  as  the  year 
1819,  Mr.  Jefferson  made  a  labored  argument  to  prove 
that  no  such  document  exists.  But  that  such  a  paper 
was  written,  considered,  signed,  and  promulgated,  is 
now  as  well  established  as  is  any  event  in  our  history. 
It  is  known,  moreover,  that  Colonel  Thomas  Polk 
originated  the  measure,  and  that  the  Declaration  it 
self  was  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Ephraim  Brevard. 

I  pass  to  speak  of  the  political  condition  of  South 
Carolina.  The  statements  in  the  first  edition  of  this 
work  exposed  me  to  much  reproach  as  a  gentleman, 
and  to  sharp  criticisms  as  a  student  of  history.  On 
the  discovery  of  a  single  but  grave  error,1  —  which  I 
took  pains  in  my  correspondence  North  and  South  to 

1  I  said  ..."  it  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  add,  that  more  Whigs 
of  New  England  were  sent  to  her  aid,  and  now  lie  buried  in  her  soil, 
than  she  sent  from  it  to  every  scene  of  strife  from  Lexington  to  York- 
town."  The  fact,  however,  is.  that  no  troops  belonging  to  New  England 
went  to  South  Carolina,  nor,  as  far  as  I  know,  south  of  the  country  about 
the  James  River,  in  Virginia.  The  common  opinion  is  otherwise.  Even 
Mr.  Webster,  in  his  reception-speech  at  Charleston,  remarked  that,  "New 
England  blood  has  moistened  the  soil  where  we  now  stand,  shed  as  read 
ily  as  at  Lexington,  or  Concord,  or  Bunker  Hill."  Again,  at  Savannah, 
"  The  blood  of  New  England,  in  her  turn,  was  freely  poured  out  upon 
Southern  soil,  and  her  sons  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  those  of  Geor 
gia  in  the  common  cause."  Still  again,  the  Hon.  B.  F.  Hunt,  in  address 
ing  Mr.  Webster,  at  Charleston,  said,  "  Every  battle-field  of  our  State 
contains  beneath  its  sod  the  bones  of  New  England  men,  who  fell  in  defence 
of  the  South"  Webster's  Works,  vol.  2,  pp.  377,  380,  403. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  39 

correct,  —  and  in  1848,  soon  after  the  attack  of  the 
"Southern  Quarterly  Review,"  I  examined  my  princi 
pal  authorities  anew;  and  I  performed  the  same  duty 
in  1856,  immediately  after  reading  the  speech  of 
Mr.  Keitt  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the 
speeches  of  Messrs.  Evans  and  Butler  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.1  I  did  not  try  to  make  out  a 
case  against  South  Carolina  ;  nor  do  I  believe  that 
candid  readers  have  ever  pronounced  my  strictures 
upon  her  delinquencies  more  severe  than  those  which 
I  littered  against  the  several  —  though  quite  differ 
ent —  faults  and  crimes  of  Massachusetts  herself  1 
did,  indeed,  detest  the  heresy  of  "  Nullification  "  with 
all  my  heart,  and  as  I  now  abhor  the  damnable  doc 
trine  of  "  Secession  ; "  but  still  felt  to  do  as  exact 
justice  to  the  State  of  Laurens,  —  father  and  son, 
-  of  Gadsen,  of  Slimier,  of  Moultrie,  and  Pickens 
and  Marion,  and  other  noble  Whigs,  —  as  exact  jus 
tice  to  South  Carolina  as  to  my  own  native  New 
Hampshire.  And  besides,  I  remembered  in  1847,  as 
I  shall  still  endeavor  to  bear  in  mind,  that  the  com 
mand,  "  Thou  slialt  not  bear  false  witness  against 
thy  neighbor,"  is  obligatory  at  all  times  and  under 
all  circumstances. 

All  honor  to  South  Carolina,  for  the  band  of  Whigs 
who  favored  the  dismemberment  of  the  British  em 
pire  at  an  early  day ;  all  honor,  for  being  the  first  of 
the  Thirteen  States  to  frame  an  independent  constitu 
tion  ;  all  honor,  for  the  payment  of  $1,^05,978  more 
than  her  proportion  of  the  expenses  of  the  war; 

1  See  Southern  Quarterly  Rei'letc,  July  and  October  numbers,  1848; 
and  the  Speeches,  Conyrexxional  Globe,  1st  Session,  34th  Congress,  pp.  625, 
702,  833. 


40  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

and  all  honor,  for  her  mercy,  at  the  close  of  the 
struggle,  to  the  unhappy,  the  ruined  adherents  to 
the  crown. 

And  now  I  reaffirm,  that  South  Carolina,  at  first, 
x  and  for  about  half  a  century,  was  a  proprietary  gov 
ernment,  and,  like  Pennsylvania,  was  a  sort  of  mon 
archy  in  miniature;  that,  in  1719,  the  people  abol 
ished  this  form,  took  from  the  proprietors  the  power 
of  appointing  the  governor,  and  erected  a  temporary 
republic  ;  that,  two  years  after,  a  regal  government 
was  established  which  continued  until  the  Eevolution. 
I  again  say,  that,  in  all  the  essential  features,  the 
British  constitution  was  the  model,  and  that,  of  con 
sequence,  the  institutions  of  South  Carolina  were 
thoroughly  monarchical. 

The  public  men  of  that  State,  of  the  present  gen 
eration,  claim  that  her  patriotic  devotion  in  the  Rev 
olution  was  inferior  to  none,  and  superior  to  most,  of 
the  States  of  the  confederacy  ;  and  I  again  aver  that, 
as  I  have  examined  the  evidence,  it  was  not  so.  .The 
great  body  of  the  people  were  emigrants  from  Swit 
zerland,  Germany,  France,  Great  Britain,  and  the 
Northern  Colonies  of  America,  and  their  descend 
ants  ;  and  were  opposed  to  a  separation  from  the 
mother  country.  I  renew  the  accusation,  that  she 
failed  to  meet  the  requisitions  of  Congress  for  troops 
to  the  extent  of  her  ability  ;  and  repeat,  that  her 
remissness  compares  sadly,  sadly  enough,  with  the 
enlistments  elsewhere,  especially  in  New  England. 

Charleston  was  the  great  mart  of  the  South,  and, 
as  Boston  still  is,  the  centre  of  the  export  and  import 
trade  of  a  large  population.  In  grandeur,  in  splendor 
of  buildings,  in  decorations,  in  equipages,  in  shipping, 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  41 

and  in  commerce,  that  city  was  equal  to  any  in  Amer 
ica.  1  reaffirm,  that,  with  troops  from  other  States  to 
aid  her,  South  Carolina  could  not,  or  would  not,  save 
her  own  capital ;  that,  so  general  was  the  defection 
after  the  capitulation  by  Lincoln,  persons  who  had 
refused  to  enlist  under  the  Whig  banner,  flocked 
to  the  royal  standard  by  hundreds  ;  that  those  who 
had  enjoyed  Lincoln's  confidence  and  participated  in 
his  councils,  bowed  their  necks  anew  to  the  yoke  of 
colonial  vassalage  ;  that  Sir  Henry  Clinton  considered 
the  triumph  complete,  and  informed  the  ministry  that 
the  whole  State  had  submitted  to  the  royal  arms,  and 
had  become  again  a  part  of  the  empire  ;  that,  to  the 
women  of  South  Carolina,  and  to  Marion,  Sumter,  and 
Pickens, —  who  kept  the  field  without  the  promise 
of  men,  money,  or  supplies,  —  it  was  owing  that  Sir 
Henry's  declaration  proved  untrue,  and  that  the  spirit 
and  name  of  liberty  did  not  become  utterly  extinct. 

I  reaffirm,  that  the  Whigs  and  their  opponents  did 
not  always  meet  in  open  and  fair  fight,  nor  give  and 
take  the  courtesies,  and  observe  the  rules,  of  civilized 
warfare  ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  murdered 
one  another !  General  Greene  and  Chief- Justice 
Marshall  are  rny  authorities.  "  The  animosities  be 
tween  the  Whigs  and  Tories,"  wrote  the  first,  "  ren 
der  their  situation  truly  deplorable.  The  Whigs 
seem  determined  to  extirpate  the  Tories,  and  the 
Tories  the  Whigs.  Some  thousands  have  fallen  in 
this  way  in  this  quarter,  and  the  evil  rages  with  more 
violence  than  ever.  If  a  stop  cannot  be  put  to  these 
massacres,  the  country  will  be  depopulated  in  a  few 
months,  as  neither  Whig  nor  Tory  can  live."  "  The 
people  of  the  South,"  remarks  the  eminent  jurist, 


42  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

in  bis  Life  of  Washington,  "felt  all  the  miseries 
which  are  inflicted  by  war  in  its  most  savage  form. 
Being  almost  equally  divided  between  the  two  con 
tending  parties,  reciprocal  injuries  had  gradually 
sharpened  their  resentments  against  each  other,  and 
had  armed  neighbor  against  neighbor,  until  it  had 
become  a  war  of  extermination.  As  the  parties  al 
ternately  triumphed,  opportunities  were  alternately 
given  for  the  exercise  of  their  vindictive  passions." 
And  I  state  here,  as  in  the  first  edition,  that  it  were 
a  hard  task  to  determine,  by  an  examination  of  the 
accounts  of  the  time,  which  party  perpetrated  the 
greatest  barbarities  ;  and  that,  whatever  the  guilt  of 
the  Tories,  the  Whigs  disgraced  the  cause  and  the 
American  name. 

And  while  I  thus  retain  the  substance  of  the  origi 
nal  averments  against  South  Carolina,  —  the  grave 
error  once  mentioned  excepted,  —  and  while,  too,  I 
insert  the  obnoxious  Table  ]  of  the  "  Continentals  " 
furnished  by  the  several  States,  in  a  new  form  but 
without  alteration  as  relates  to  results,  1  add,  that 
though  the  battles  of  Fort  Moultrie,  of  Stono,  of  the 
Siege  of  Charleston,  of  Camden,  of  Hanging  Rock,  of 
Musgrove's  Mill,  of  Blackstock's,  of  Georgetown,  of 
Black  Wings,  of  Cow^pens,  of  Fish-Dam  Ford,  of  Nine 
ty-Six,  of  Fort  Galpin,  of  Fort  Watson,  of  Fort  Mott, 
of  Hobkirk's  Hill,  of  Granby,  of  Cedar  Spring,  of 
Hammond's  Store,  of  Quimby,  of  Eutaw,  of  Rocky 

1    CONTINENTAL    ARMY. 

In  1790,  General  Henry  Knox,  Secretary  of  War,  communicated  to 
Congress  a  Report  of"  Troops,  including  Militia,  furnished  by  the  several 
States,  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,"  from  which  I  have  compiled 
the  following  Table.  As  relates  to  the  "  Regulars,"  he  remarks,  that  the 
numbers  are  "  stated  from  the  oflicial  returns  deposited  in  the  War  Office, 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  48 

Mount,  of  Port  Royal,  of  Tulafinny,  of  Coosahatchie, 
of  Waxhaw,  of  Cloud's  Creek,  of  Hay's  Station,  of 

and  u  may  be  depended  upon."  The  army  of  the  Northern  Department 
was  discharged  November  5th,  1783,  and  of  the  Southern  Stales,  just  ten 
days  later. 


State. 

Number  of  Troops  F 

un  islied. 

1         Year  1775. 

Year  1776. 

i             2,824 

3,019 
13,372 
798 
6,390 
3,629 
3,193 
5,519 
609 
637 
6,181 
1,134 
2,069 
351 

Massachusetts  
Rhode  Island  

16,444 
1,193 

4  507 

New  York 

2,075 

400 

Delaware 

South  Carolina 

Georgia   

27,443 
In  September,  1776,  quotas  were  fixed  by  Congrt 
during  the  war. 

State.                Quota  Required.  Troops  Furnished. 

46,901 
jss  for  three  years,  or 

Strength  of  the  Regular 
or  Continental  Army. 

Year. 

Troops. 

New  Hampshire  •  • 
Massachusetts  •  •  •  • 

Rlimlc    Tsliiul  .  • 

10,194 
52,728 
5,694 
28,336 
15,734 
11,396 
40,416 
3,974 
26,608 
48,522 
23,994 
16,932 
3,974 

6,653 
38,091 
3,917 
21,142 
12,077 
7,534 
19,689 
1,778 
13,275 
'    20,491 
6,129 
4,348 
2,328 

1775 
1776 
1777 
1778 
1779 
1780 
1781 
1782 
1783 

27,443 
46,901 
34,820 
32,899 
27,694 
21,015 
13,292 
14,256 
13,476 

"Mow   Ynvlf 

Pennsylvania  
Delaware  

North  Carolina  •  •  • 
South  Carolina  •  •  • 
Georgia  

Add  Continental  "] 

17  7  R 

288,502 
'roops  for  yeai 

157,452 
27,443 
46,901 

Add  Continental  Troops  for  yeai 

231,796 

231,796 

It  thus  appears  that  the  number  of  Continental  troops  from  New  Eng 
land,  was  118,350;  from  the  Middle  States,  54,116,  and  from  the  South- 


44  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

Kettle  Creek,  and  of  Buck's  Defeat,  —  I  add,  that 
though  these  battles,  thirty  in  all,  were  fought  within 
the  limits  of  South  Carolina,  the  Tories  were  not 
subjugated  ;  bat,  on  the  other  hand,  after  the  fall  of 
Charleston  and  until  the  peace  were  in  the  ascend 
ant. 

A  word,  finally,  respecting  the  alleged  attempt  of 
South  Carolina  "  to  secede  "  when  Charleston  was  in 
vested  by  the  British  general,  Prevost.  The  explana 
tion  of  late  years  is,  that  the  proposition  was  a  mere 
artifice  to  gain  time.  If  the  fact  is  so,  how  strange 
that  Henry  Lee,  a  Virginian,  an  officer  in  service, 
and  an  intelligent  observer  and  chronicler  of  mili 
tary  events,  —  how  strange  that  lie  did  not  know  it  ? 
He  records,  in  his  "History  of  the  War  in  the  South," 
that,  after  a  day's  negotiation  to  adjust  terms  of  sur 
render,  "  the  correspondence  closed  with  the  pro 
posal,  on  our  part,  of  neutrality  to  the  town  and 
State  during  the  war, — the  peace  to  fix  its  ultimate 
condition."  Again,  in  commenting  upon  Prevost's 
rejection  of  this  chivalrous  overture  to  desert  the  Con 
federacy  :  "  No  British  force  would  have  been  retained 

crn  States,  59,330.  So,  too,  it  appears  that  Massachusetts  furnished 
67,907,  and  13,791  more  than  the  aggregate  from  New  York,  New  Jer 
sey,  and  Pennsylvania,  And  8,577  more  than  the  aggregate  from  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  The  accu 
racy  of  this  Table  has  been  disputed.  Some  inquirers  suppose  that 
231,796  different  individuals  enlisted,  forgetting  that  the  army,  when  the 
strongest,  consisted  of  only  46,901  men,  and  that,  as  is  well  known,  the 
same  soldier  reenlisted  once,  twice,  and  in  some  cases,  thrice,  and  in  the 
aggregate  of  231,796,  is  counted  accordingly.  Again,  other  persons  are 
sceptical  as  to  the  existence  of  General  Knox's  Report ;  such  are  referred 
to  the  History  of  Congress,  where  it  is  recorded  that  it  was  submitted  to 
that  body,  May  11,  1790,  and  to  tin;  12th  vol.  p.  14,  of  the  American 
Stale  Papers,  folio  edition,  where  it  is  inserted  entire.  I  respectfully  re 
quest  those  who  have  questioned  my  figures,  to  examine  for  themselves. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  45 

from  the  field  to  preserve  the  neutral  State  ;  and  the 
sweets  of  peace,  with  the  allurements  of  British  com 
merce,  would  probably  have  woven  a  connection  with 
Great  Britain,  fatal  in  its  consequences  to  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  Southern  States."  Thus  early,  if 
we  may  believe  Lee,  was  the  germ  of  "  Secession,"  — 
thus  early  the  germ  of  the  war  which  is  now  waged 
against  a  government  so  gentle,  so  motherly  even,  as 
never  to  have  roughly,  unjustly  touched  the  hair  of 
a  cotton-planter's  head. 

Georgia,  the  remaining  Colony,  was  in  its  infancy, 
and  Oglethorpe,  its  founder, lived  until  after  it  became 
an  independent  State.  The  designs  of  himself  and 
his  associates  in  its  settlement,  were  highly  benevo 
lent  and  generous ;  and  the  public  purse  contributed 
a  considerable  sum  to  aid  their  undertaking.  By 
their  charter,  the  king  was  to  model  the  government 
at  the  end  of  twenty-one  years  ;  and  accordingly,  in 
1752,  at  the  expiration  of  this  period,  a  royal  gov 
ernment  was  established  similar  to  that  in  the  Caro- 
linas,  which  existed  until  the  Revolution.  Georgia 
sent  no  delegates  to  the  first  Continental  Congress  ; 
and  that  she  was  represented  in  the  second,  was 
owing,  I  am  led  to  conclude,  principally  to  the  zeal 
and  exertions  of  Lyman  Hall,  a  native  of  Connecti 
cut,  who,  having  graduated  at  Yale  College  and  fitted 
himself  for  the  practice  of  medicine,  removed  to  Sun- 
bury.  His  ardor  in  the  Whig  cause  exposed  him  to 
the  indignation  of  his  opponents,  and  after  the  royal 
army  penetrated  Georgia,  his  property  was  seized 
and  confiscated.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Zubly,  another  of  the 
delegates,  proved  himself  unworthy  of  confidence, 
and  lost  his  estate  at  the  hands  of  his  former  friends 


46  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

and  associates.  To  form  a  party  of  "liberty-men" 
within  the  borders  of  Georgia,  to  organize  this  party 
and  commit  it  in  favor  of  the  "  rebellion/'  which  was 
fast  hastening  to  "  treason  "  and  Revolution  in  other 
parts  of  the  continent,  was  attended  with  difficulty, 
and  required  time  and  labor.  But  such  a  party  finally 
existed  and  acted ;  and  the  AMERICAN  CONFEDERACY 
was  thus  completed. 

Though  overrun  by  the  king's  troops,  and  governed 
by  military  law  during  a  considerable  part  of  the 
war,  Georgia  overpaid  her  quota  of  money  in  a  small 
sum,  and  furnished  2.679  men  for  the  Continental 
service.  If,  then,  it  be  considered,  that  her  popula 
tion  was  small,  her  resources  limited ;  that  Sir  James 
Wright,  the  last  royal  governor,  was  an  able  and 
popular  man,  and  rallied  a  considerable  body  of  Loy 
alists  ;  and  that,  in  the  course  of  events,  the  Whigs 
were  compelled  to  flee  into  the  neighboring  States 
for  safety,  —  her  efforts  and  sacrifices  are  entitled  to 
commendation.1 

'^From  this  rapid  survey  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  it- 
has  appeared  that  the  adherents  of  the  crown  were 

1  Georgia  was,  however,  regarded  as  highly  loyal.  One  of  the  ablest 
and  best  informed  of  the  Loyalists,  thus  speaks:  "  Georgia  had  not  only 
been  recovered  out  of  the  hands  of  the  insurgents,  in  1779,  but  the  prov 
ince  was  put  at  the  peace  of  the  king  by  his  Majesty's  Commissioners,  and 
the  king's  civil  government  restored,  and  all  the  loyal  inhabitants  required 
by  proclamation  to  return  to  their  settlements,  and  an  Assembly  called, 
and  actually  subsisting,  and  all  the  civil  officers  in  the  exercise  of  their 
functions,  when  orders  came  in  1782,  to  evacuate  the  country,  and  deliver 
it  up  to  the  rebels,  which  was  done  accordingly,  without  any  stipulation  in 
favor  of  the  attainted  Loyalists,  or  their  confiscated  properties,  although 
the  rebel  force  in  that  country  was  so  inconsiderable,  that  the  Loyalists 
offered  to  the  king's  general  to  preserve  tlie  province  for  his  Majesty,  if 
he  would  Icai'e  them  a  single  regiment  of  foot,  and  the  '  Georgia  Rangers,' 
to  assift  them." 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  47 

more  numerous  at  the  South,  and  in  Pennsylvania 
and  New  York,  than  in  New  England.  Neither  in 
the  regulations  of  the  crown,  nor  in  the  enactments 
of  parliament,  had  there  been  much  either  to  offend 
the_  feelings  or  check  the  industry  of  the  planters  and 
agriculturists.  Towards  the  Colonies  that  sold  raw 
produce,  the  policy  of  the  mother  country  had  been 
mild,  perhaps  liberal.  They  were  the  Round-heads, 
and  not  the  Cavaliers,  who  met  her  upon  the  ocean 
and  in  the  workshop;  hence,  it  was  to  them  that  she 
showed  the  most  odious  features  of  the  Colonial  sys 
tem.  But  taunted,  for  a  century  and  a  half,  witli  the 
heresy  of  their  faith,  and  impeded  in  all  their  enter 
prises  ever  after  the  death  of  Cromwell,  the  people 
of  the  North  were  driven  to  invoke  the  sympathy  of 
their  Colonial  brethren  whose  religion  and  pursuits 
had  been  the  more  favored  objects  of  her  regard ;  and 
when  their  joint  appeals  to  her  justice  and  magnan 
imity  failed  to  shake  her  purposes,  then,  by  the  union 
of  counsel,  arms,  and  effort,  all  the  Colonies  together 
broke  from  her  dominion.  If,  therefore,  the  war  of 
the  Revolution  had  its  origin  in  a  long  course  of  ag 
gression  upon  the  rights  of  the  North,  its  successful 
issue  was  due  in  some  measure  to  the  more  meri 
torious,  because  more  disinterested,  exertions  of  the 
South.  If,  too,  this  course  of  aggression  gradually 
diffused  a  spirit  of  resistance  throughout  the  country, 
so  that  Episcopal  and  monarchical  Virginia  at  last  fur 
nished  a  commander  for  the  Puritan  and  Republican 
soldiers  of  Massachusetts,  the  conclusion  becomes 
irresistible,  that  the  wrongs  which  united  men  of  so 
different  characters  and  pursuits,  were  far  too  deep 
and  grave  to  be  excused  or  extenuated.  \ 


48  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

The  examination,  now  completed,  of  the  political 
condition  of  the  Colonies,  and  of  the  state  of  parties, 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  number  of  our  coun 
trymen  who  wished  to  continue  their  connection  with 
the  mother  country  was  very  large.  In  nearly  every 
Loyalist  letter  or  other  paper  which  I  have  examined, 
and  in  which  the  subject  is  mentioned,  it  is  either 
assumed  or  stated  in  terms,  that  the  loyal  were  the  ma 
jority  ;  and  this  opinion,  I  am  satisfied,  was  very  gen 
erally  entertained  by  those  who  professed  to  have  a 
knowledge  of  public  sentiment.  That  the  adherents 
of  the  crown  were  mistaken,  in  this  particular,  is  cer 
tain. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Newspapers  in  the  Thirteen  Colonies.  Political  Writers,  Whig  and  Loy 
alist,  North  and  South.  Seminaries  of  Learning.  Condition  of  the 
Press,  &c.,  at  the  Revolutionary  Era.  Means  for  diffusing  Knowledge 
limited. 

OF  the  thirty-seven  newspapers  which  were  pub 
lished  in  the  Colonies,  in  April,  1775,  if  the  result  of 
my  inquiries  he  correct,  seven  or  eight  were  in  the 
interest  of  the  crown,  and  twenty-tlu'ee  were  devoted 
to  the  service  of  the  Whigs.  Of  these  thirty-seven, 
however,  one  on  each  side  had  little  or  no  part  in  dis 
cussing  the  great  questions  at  issue,  as  they  were  es 
tablished  only  in  the  preceding  month  of  January  ; 
and  of  those  which  did  participate  in  these  discus 
sions  and  maintain  the  right,  no  less  than  five  went 
over  to  the  Loyalists  in  the  course  of  the  war.  Of 
the  number  first  named,  two  were  printed  in  German, 
and  one  in  German  and  English  ;  and,  as  another  of 
the  thirty-seven  was  commenced  in  April,  there  were, 
in  fact,  but  thirty-one  newspapers  in  the  vernacular 
tongue  at  the  close  of  1774.  Up  to  the  beginning  of 
the  strife,  printing  had  been  confined  to  the  capitals 
or  principal  towns;  but  hostile  deeds,  interfering  with 
all  employments,  caused  the  removal  of  some  of  the 
public  journals  to  places  more  remote,  and  were  the 
means  of  interrupting  or  wholly  discontinuing  the 
publication  of  others.  Those  that  existed  at  the  pe- 

VOL.  1.  5 


50  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

riod  of  which  we  are  speaking,  were  very  unequally 
distributed  ;  thus  Maryland,  Virginia,  the  two  Caro- 
linas,  and  Georgia,  taken  together,  had  but  one  more 
than  Pennsylvania,  and  but  three  more  than  Massa 
chusetts.  In  New  Hampshire,  the  «  Gazette  "  was 
alone  ;  while  Rhode  Island  had  both  a  "  Gazette  "  and 
a  ^  Mercury."  Of  the  editors  and  proprietors  who 
originally  opposed  the  right,  or  became  converts  to 
the  wrong,  several  sought  refuge  in  Nova  Scotia  and 
New  Brunswick,  where  they  established  newspapers, 
which  were  the  first  published  in  these  Colonies. 

From  what  has  now  been  said,  it  is  evident  that  a 
very  considerable  proportion  of  the  professional  and 
editorial  intelligence  and  talents  of  the  Thirteen  Col 
onies  was  arrayed  against  the  popular  movement. 
This  volume  contains  notices  of  more  than  two  hun 
dred  persons  who  were  educated  at  Harvard  College, 
or  some  other  American  or  foreign  institution  of  learn 
ing  :  and  could  the  whole  number  of  Loyalists  who 
received  college  honors  be  ascertained,  it  would  be 
found,  probably,  that  the  list  is  far  from  being  com 
plete.  It  was  alleged,  however,  by  a  distinguished 
adherent  of  the  crown  in  New  Jersey,  that  "  most  of 
the  colleges  had  been  the  grand  nurseries  of  the  re 
bellion;"  and,  in  a  plan  which  he  submitted  for  the 
government  of  the  Colonies  after  the  suppression  of 
the  revolt,  he  proposed  to  check  their  pernicious  in 
fluence  by  introducing  several  reforms.  But  if,  in 
connection  with  the  facts  above  named,  it  be  con 
sidered  that,  in  1761,  there  were  but  six  colleges  in 
America,  and  only  nine  at  the  commencement  of  hos 
tilities,  we  shall  hardly  find  reason  to  believe  that  the 
loyal  had  cause  to  complain  of  them.  It  is  said,  on 


HISTORICAL  ESSAY.  51 

what  appears  to  be  good  authority,  that,  as  late  as 
174G,  there  were  but  fifteen  liberally  educated  per 
sons  in  the  whole  Colony  of  New  York.  The  in 
crease  between  that  period  and  the  Revolution  could 
not  have  been  very  considerable  ;  and,  of  the  number 
named,  several  were  alive  in  1776,  and  belonged  to 
the  ministerial  party.  But  whatever  was  the  relative 
strength  of  the  two  parties  in  the  single  particular 
of  graduates  of  colleges,  the  Whigs  far  exceeded  their 
opponents  in  effective  writers.  Among  the  newspa 
per  essayists  in  Massachusetts,  on  the  royal  side,  were 
Joseph  Green,  a  wag  and  a  wit ;  Samuel  Waterhouse, 
an  officer  of  the  customs,  who  was  stigmatized  as  the 
"most  notorious  scribbler  and  libeller"  of  the  time; 
Lieutenant-Governor  Oliver  ;  Jonathan  Sewall ;  and 
Daniel  Leonard.  The  last  wrote  a  series  of  papers 
entitled  "  Massachusettensis,"  and  had  John  Adams 
for  his  antagonist,  over  the  signature  of  "  Nov-Ang- 
lus."  Mr.  Adams  attributed  these  papers  to  his  friend 
Sewall,  but  the  fact  that  Leonard  was  the  author  is 
now  well  established.  None  of  these  "government- 
men  "  were  so  effective,  as  popular  writers,  as  Samuel 
Adams,  and  his  single  pen  was  probably  a,  match  for 
them  all.  Ilutchinson  was  so  annoyed  by  his  pecul 
iar  tact,  and  his  power  to  agitate  and  move  the  public 
mind,  as  to  declare  that,  of  all  persons  known  to 
him,  he  was  the  most  successful  "  in  robbing  men  of 
their  characters."  But,  besides  the  two  Adamses, 
James  Otis  was  the  author  of  four  political  tracts, 
and  Oxen  bridge  Thacher,  Chauncy,  and  Cooper  were 
continually  transmitting  their  thoughts  in  popular 
forms  ;  while  Josiah  Quincy,  junior,  often  gave  his 
countrymen  the  effusions  of  his  rich,  pure,  and  clas- 


52  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

sical  mind,  and  his  "  Observations  on  the  Boston  Port 
Bill  "  is  to  be  regarded  not  only  as  a  clear  and  cogent 
political  essay,  but  as  a  finished  specimen  of  the  litr 
e rat ure  of  the  period. 

Among  the  Loyalists  of  New  York  who  contrib 
uted  to  the  press,  were  the  Rev.  Samuel  Chandler, 
the  Rev.  John  Yardill,  and  Isaac  Wilkins.  The  oppo 
nent  of  the  latter  was  the  youthful  Hamilton.1  In 
the  South,  I  am  disposed  to  conclude  that  the  crown 
commanded  no  writer  of  ability  except  Daniel  Du- 
lany,  the  attorney-general  of  Maryland,  who  was  in 
the  field  against  Charles  Carroll.  I  know  of  no  min 
isterial  writer  in  Virginia.  Those  on  the  Whig  side 
were,  it  is  believed,  limited  to  three;  namely,  Jeffer 
son,  Richard  Bland,  and  Arthur  Lee.  Some  of  the 
popular  leaders  in  the  planting  Colonies  conducted 
an  extensive  correspondence,  but  others  seem  to  have 
been  almost  silent.  It  is  someAvhat  remarkable,  that 
the  only  editor  and  best  biographer  of  Washington 
found,  or  has  preserved,  but  three  letters  in  which  the 
disputes  that  agitated  the  country  are  incidentally 
mentioned;  and  but  three  others  in  which  the  subjects 
in  controversy  are  fully  and  explicitly  discussed.  At 
the  North  it  was  essentially  different,  and  the  letters 
of  Massachusetts  Whigs  contain  full  and  valuable  ma 
terials  for  history. 

In  concluding  the  topic,  it  may  be  remarked;  that, 
while  the  number  of  the  highest  seminaries  of  learn 
ing  was  small,  the  other  means  of  disseminating 

1  Hamilton's  own  sympathies  were  at  first  on  the  royal  side,  as  he  him 
self  adtntts  in  his  reply  to  Wilkins  ;  and  his  biographer  relates  that  a 
visit  to  Boston  changed  the  current  of  his  thoughts:  1  may  add, —  the 
whole  course  of  his  life. 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  58 

knowledge  were  extremely  limited.  It  suited  the 
views  of  the  mother  country  to  keep  the  Colonial 
press  shackled  ;  and  it  seems  hardly  credible  that 
the  accomplished  Addison,  when  a  minister  of  state, 
should  have  directed  the  governors  in  America  to 
allow  of  no  publications  and  of  no  printing,  without 
license.  For  a  considerable  period  the  most  rigid 
censorship  prevailed  in  the  Colonies,  and  even  alma 
nacs  were  subject  to  examination.1  The  result  of  this 
state  of  things  was,  that,  prior  to  the  Revolution,  most 
of  the  books  were  imported  from  England.  As  in 


1  In  1719  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  obtain  a  license  from  Governor 
Shute,  to  publish  a  pamphlet  upon  the  very  harmless  subject  of  providing 
Boston  with  market-houses,  of  which  the  town  was  then  destitute.  The 
pulpit  was,  however,  free,  and  Dr.  Colman  preached  a  sermon  the  same 
year  on  "  the  reasons  for  a  market  in  Boston."  Censorship  of  the  news 
papers,  at  this  period,  continued  to  be  enforced  so  rigidly  that,  four  years 
after,  matter  intended  for  publication  in  them  was  required  to  be  examin 
ed  by  the  Colonial  Secretary.  Though  no  particular  officer  may  have 
been  charged  with  the  duty  of  supervision  later  than  the  year  1  730,  a 
publisher  was  sent  to  prison  in  1754,  upon  suspicion  of  having  printed  re- 
marks  derogatory  to  some  members  of  the  Colonial  government. 

It  ma)-  not  be  without  interest  to  show  what  was  thought  of  the  freedom 
of  the  newspaper  press  fifty  years  ago.  In  February,  1812,  the  attorney- 
general  and  solicitor-general  of  Massachusetts  state,  in  an  official  report 
to  Governor  Gerry,  that,  in  their  judgment,  there  had  appeared  in  the 
Boston  papers,  since  the  preceding  first  of  June,  no  less  than  two  hundred 
and  jifty -three  libellous  articles,  to  wit:  in  The  Sconryc,  ninety-nine;  The 
Centinel,  fifty-one;  The  Repertory,  thirty-four;  Tlie  (lazctte,  thirty-eight; 
The  Palla<1ium,  eighteen  ;  The  Mfsscnr/er,  one;  The  Chronicle,  eight;  and 
The  Patriot,  nine  ;  while  in  The  Yankee  there  had  been  none.  The  re 
port  gives  the  dates  of  the  papers,  and  divides  the  libellous  matter  into 
two  kinds:  that  in  which  the  truth  could  be,  and  that  in  which  it  could  not 
be,  given  in  evidence  to  justify  the  party  accused.  These  law-officers  state, 
moreover,  that  their  examinations  had  not  embraced  complete  files  of  all 
these  prints  ;  and  that  they  had  not  included  in  their  list  calumnious  pub 
lications  against  foreign  governments  or  distinguished  foreigners,  nor  libels 
of  the  editorial  brethren  against  each  other.  It  appears  that  the  inquiry 
was  instituted  at  his  Excellency's  request. 
5* 


54  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

other  respects,  however,  the  statute-book  was  some 
times  disobeyed  while  this  system  was  in  force,  and 
works  were  published  which  bore  the  English  imprint, 
and  which  closely  resembled  the  English  copies  used 
in  the  publication.  Besides,  provision  for  educating 
the  people  was  seldom  made,  and  reading  and  writing 
in  some  sections  of  the  country  were  "  rare  accom 
plishments."  The  system  of  free-schools  in  New  Eng 
land,  of  schools  to  be  ordained  and  continually  main 
tained  by  law,  was  established  at  an  early  period-  but 
in  Virginia,  it  is  believed  education  was  never  a  sub 
ject  of  legislation,  during  the  whole  course  of  her 
Colonial  existence. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Politic-til  Di\isionsin  Colonial  Society.  Most  of  those  in  Office  adhered 
to  the  Crown.  Charge  of  the  Loyalists  that  the  Whins  were  mere 
needy  Place-Hunters,  answered.  Loyalist  Clergymen,  Lawyers,  and 
Physicians. 

WE  enter  now  upon  a  brief  inquiry  to  show  the 
divisions  in  the  different  classes  and  avocations  of 
Colonial  society.  And  first,  those  who  held  office. 
Nearly  all  the  officials  of  all  grades  adhered  to  the 
crown.  This  was  to  have  been  expected.  Men  who 
lived  in  ease,  who  enjoyed  all  the  consideration  and 
deference  which  rank  and  station  invariably  confer, 
especially  in  monarchies,  and  who,  therefore,  had  noth 
ing  to  gain,  but  much  to  lose,  by  a  change,  viewed 
the  dissensions  that  arose  between  themselves  and 
the  people,  in  a  light  which  allowed  their  self-love  and 
their  self-interest  to  have  full  play.  "They  were  ap 
pointed  and  sworn  to  execute  the  laws,  and,  in  obeying 
the  instructions  of  the  ministry  at  home  to  enforce 
the  statutes  of  the  realm,  they  did  but  perform  com 
mon  acts  of  duty."  These  were  the  arguments,  and 
they  were  neither  the  first  nor  the  last  persons  in  of 
fice  who  have  reasoned  in  the  same  manner,  and  who 
have  kept  their  places  at  the  expense  of  their  patriot 
ism.  Besides,  they  affected  to  believe  that  the  Whig 
leaders  were  mere  needy  office-hunters,  and  that  the 
contests  between  them  were  in  some  measure  per 
sonal.  The  descendants  of  Loyalists,  whose  homes 


5f>  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

are  across  our  northeastern  border,  in  conversations 
with  citizens  of  the  republic  continue  to  repeat  the 
tale.  They  have  been  answered,  that,  were  the  charge 
true,  our  fathers  were  still  the  more  patriotic  of  the 
two ;  since,  upon  this  issue,  it  would  seem  that  theirs, 
who  were  the  fat  and  sleek  possessors,  would  not  give 
up  the  much-coveted  stations  to  the  lean  and  hungry 
expectants  and  claimants,  even  to  preserve  the  Brit 
ish  empire  from  dismemberment,  It  has  been  said, 
too,  that  if  it  be  admitted  that  the  younger  Otis  ac 
tually  did  vow  he  would  set  Massachusetts  in  flames, 
though  he  should  perish  in  the  fire,  because  his  father 
was  not  appointed  to  a  vacant  and  promised  judge- 
ship  ;  that,  as  has  been  alleged,  John  Adams  was  at  a 
loss  which  side  to  take,  and  became  a  "  rebel "  because 
he  was  refused  a  commission  in  the  peace ;  that 
Samuel  Adams  was  a  defaulting  collector  of  taxes, 
and  paid  up  his  arrears  of  money  in  abuse  of  honest 
men  ;  that,  as  his  enemies  say,  Hancock  possessed 
neither  stability  nor  principle,  and  that  wounded  van 
ity  caused  his  opposition  to  the  king's  servants  ;  that 
Joseph  Warren  was  a  broken  man,  and  sought,  amid 
the  turmoils  of  civic  strife,  to  better  his  condition  ; 
that  Washington  was  soured  because  he  was  not  re 
tained  in  the  British  army,  in  reward  for  his  services 
in  the  French  war;  that  the  Lees  were  all  unsound 
men,  and  that  Richard  Henry  was  disappointed  in  not 
receiving  the  office  of  stamp  distributor,  which  he 
solicited  ;  that  Franklin  was  vexed  at  the  opposition 
to  his  great  land-projects  and  plans  for  settlements  on 
the  Ohio;  and  that  a  large  majority  of  the  prominent 
Whigs  of  every  Colony  were  young  men  who  had 
their  fortunes  to  make,  and  distinction  to  win, that, 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  57 

if  all  this  be  admitted,  what  then  ?  The  argument  is 
as  two-edged  as  the  first,  and,  though  it  he  granted 
that  one  side  of  the  blade  wounds  the  Whigs,  the 
other  still  cuts  deep  the  Tories.  For,  upon  this 
ground  it  may  be  asked,  what  claim  to  perpetuity 
had  the  institutions  which  denied  to  a  man  like  John 
Adams  the  humble  place  of  a  justice  of  the  peace; 
and  to  George  Washington,  an  opportunity  to  display 
to  qualities  of  character  on  the  great  field  which  the 
Being  who  made  him  intended  for  him  ?  And  if  the 
thought  ever  obtruded  itself  upon  John  Marshall, 
that,  by  living  and  dying  a  Colonist,  he  should  live 
and  die  undistinguished  and  without  leaving  his  name 
in  his  country's  annals,  I  know  not  that  the  emotion 
was  blamable.  The  destiny  marked  out  for  him,  was 
to  found  the  jurisprudence  of  a  NATION;  and  has  the 
world  been  the  loser  because  he  fulfilled  it? 
(  The  children  of  the  Loyalists,  though  thus  met, 
jcomplain  because  the  offices,  at  the  close  of  the  con- 
'flict,  passed  from  the  "  old  families  "  into  the  hands  of 
1"  upstarts.''  It  has  been  replied  to  this,  that,  revolu 
tion  or  no  revolution,  it  was  high  time  the  persons 
stigmatized  as  "  upstarts "  had  a  share  of  the  royal 
patronage  :  first,  to  break  up  the  practice  of  bestow 
ing  upon  the  son,  however  unworthy  or  incompetent, 
the  place  held  by  the  father ;  and,  secondly,  to  intro 
duce  faithfulness  and  responsibility,  and  to  dismiss 
arrogant  and  disobliging  incumbents. 

The  allegations  thus  noticed  are  proved,  as  those 
who  make  them  sagely  imagine,  by  the  fact  that  the 
Whigs,  at  the  peace,  received  the  executive  chairs  of 
the  several  States,  the  judgeships,  the  collectorships, 
the  great  law-offices,  and  other  public  situations,  pre- 


58  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

viouslv  held  by  their  opponents.  This  argument  is 
sufficient  to  disturb  the  gravity  of  a  man  who  never 
smiled  in  his  life ;  and  vet  it  is  sometimes  soberly 
urged  by  the  intelligent  and  well  informed,  and  en 
forced  in  strong  and  impassioned  tones. 

But,  it  is  time  to  inquire,  what  became  of  the 
office-holders  whom  the  Revolution  expelled  ?  Did 
thev,  did  the  adherents  of  the  crown,  generallv, 

i/    7  i/    •• 

evince  an  unconquerable  aversion  to  public  employ 
ment,  after  their  retirement  or  banishment  from  the 
United  States  ?  The  answer  to  these  questions  will 
be  found  in  these  pages.  It  will  be  seen,  that  they 
not  only  filled  all  the  principal  offices  in  the  present 
British  Colonies,  but  that  their  places  descended  to 
their  sons,  connections,  and  relatives.  In  no  point 
of  view,  then,  are  the  Loyalists  entitled  to  become  the 
accusers  of  the  Whigs ;  since^it  is  the  innocent  only 
who  can  properly  cast  stones  at  the  offending  or  the 
faulty.  Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked,  that  offices  under 
the  British  crown  are,  in  many  respects,  of  the  nature 
of  life-estates  or  life-annuities;  since  the  practice  which 
prevailed  in  the  '•  old  thirteen,'1  of  perpetuating  offi 
cial  distinctions  in  families,  still  continues  to  a  very 
great  extent,  and  since,  too,  while  places  are  not 
thus  lost  and  won  at  every  turn  of  the  political  wheel 
as  with  us,  the  salaries,  fees,  and  emoluments  are 
much  greater  than  are  paid  either  under  our  state 
or  national  governments.  Instead,  therefore,  of  our 
being  compelled  to  defend  the  Whigs  against  the 
charge  of  undue  or  of  improper  love  of  office,  the 
Loyalists,  and  those  of  their  descendants  who  repeat 
their  fathers'  accusations,  are  to  be  turned  upon  in 
quiet  good  nature,  and  to  be  put  upon  their  own  defence. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  59 

Our  attention,  now,  will  be  directed  to  the  profes- ^ 
sional  classes.  It  has  often  been  asserted  that  nearly 
all  the  clergy  were  Whigs.  The  truth  of  this  may 
admit  of  a  doubt ;  since  most  of  those  of  the  Episco 
pal  faith  not  only  espoused  the  adverse  side,  but 
abandoned  their  flocks  and  the  country.  1  need  not 
say,  that,  at  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  the  clergy 
possessed  vast  influence.  In  the  early  settlement  of 
the  country,  as  is  well  known,  the  duty  of  the  minis 
ters  was  not  confined  to  instructions  in  things  spirit 
ual,  but  embraced  matters  of  temporal  concern;  and, 
on  questions  of  pressing  public  exigency,  their  coun 
sel  and  advice  were  eagerly  sought  and  implicitly 
followed.  This  deference  to  their  office  and  to  their 
real  or  supposed  wisdom,  though  less  general  than  at 
former  periods,  had  not  ceased  ;  and  clergymen,  both 
Whigs  and  Tories,  often  made  a  recruiting  house  of 
the  sanctuary.  Some  of  those  of  both  parties  disre 
garded  the  obligations  of  Christian  charity,  and  sacri 
ficed  their  kindly  affections  as  men,  in  their  earnest 
appeals  from  the  pulpit.  Generally,  the  minister  and 
his  people  were  of  the  same  party  ;  but  there  were 
still  some  memorable  divisions  and  quarrels,  separa 
tions,  and  dismissions. 

We  pass  to  members  of  the  bar.  I  incline  to  be 
lieve  that  a  majority  of  the  lawyers  were  Whigs,  and 
for  several  reasons.  First,  because  in  the  course  of 
my  researches  I  have  found  but  comparatively  few 
who  adhered  to  the  crown;  secondly,  because  of  the 
well-known  fact,  that  a  large  part  of  the  speakers 
and  advocates  on  the  popular  side  were  educated  to 
the  law  ;  and,  thirdly,  because  one  of  the  objects  of 
the  "  Stamp  Act "  was  to  drive  from  the  profession 


IK)  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

those  members  of  it  who  annoyed  the  royal  govern 
ors  and  other  officials,  and  who,  as  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Commons  said,  were  mere  «  pettifoggers." 
Besides,  many  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  on  being  retained 
by  the  merchants,  became  impressed  with  the  enor 
mities  of  the  commercial  code,  and,  in  advocating  the 
cause  of  clients  who  claimed  to  continue  their  con 
traband  trade  on  the  ground  of  usage  and  prescrip 
tion,  thev  were  impelled  to  follow  the  example  of 
Otis,  .and  to  take  the  lofty  stand  that  commerce 
should  be,  and,  on  principles  of  justice,  really  was,  as 
open  and  as  free  to  British  subjects  in  the  New  World, 
as  it  was  to  those  in  the  Old. 

Still,  the  ministry  had  their  partisans  among  the 
barristers-at-law,  and  some  of  them  were  persons  of 
great  professional  eminence.  In  fact,  the  "  giants  of 
the  law  "  in  the  Colonies  were  nearly  all  Loyalists. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  clergy,  many  of  them  were 
driven  into  exile.  Several  entered  the  military  ser 
vice  of  the  crown,  and  raised  and  commanded  com 
panies,  battalions,  and  even  regiments.  At  the 
peace,  a  few  returned  to  their  former  abodes  and 
pursuits ;  but  the  greater  number  passed  the  re 
mainder  of  their  lives  either  in  England,  or  in  her 
present  possessions  in  America.  The  anti-revolu 
tionary  bar  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  fur 
nished  the  admiralty  and  common-law  courts  of  New 
Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  Canada,  and  the  Bermudas, 
with  many  of  their  most  distinguished  judges. 

The  physicians  who  adhered  to  the  crown  were 
numerous,  and  the  proportion  of  Whigs  in  the  pro 
fession  of  medicine  was  less,  probably,  than  in  either 
that  of  law  or  theology.  But,  unlike  persons  of  the 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  «J1 

latter  callings,  most  of  the  physicians  remained  in 
the  count r}',  and  quietly  pursued  their  business. 
There  seems  to  have  been  an  understanding  that, 
though  pulpits  should  be  closed,  and  litigation  be 
suspended,  the  sick  should  not  be  deprived  of  their 
regular  and  freely  chosen  medical  attendants.  I  have 
been  surprised  to  find,  from  verbal  communications 
and  from  various  other  sources,  that,  while  the  "  Tory 
doctors  "  were  as  zealous  and  as  fearless  in  the  ex 
pression  of  their  sentiments  as  "  Tory  ministers  "  and 
"  Tory  barristers,"  their  persons  and  property  were 
generally  respected  in  the  towns  and  villages,  where 
little  or  no  regard  was  paid  to  the  bodies  and  estates 
of  gentlemen  of  the  robe  and  the  surplice.1  Some, 
however,  were  less  fortunate,  and  the  dealings  of  the 
"  sons  of  liberty  "  were  occasionally  harsh  and  ex 
ceedingly  vexatious.  A  few  of  the  Loyalist  physi 
cians  were  banished  ;  others,  and  those  chiefly  who 
became  surgeons  in  the  army  or  provincial  corps,  set 
tled  in  New  Brunswick  or  Nova  Scotia,  where  they 
resumed  practice. 

1  Since  writing  this  passage,  I  have  met  more  than  once  with  the  sug 
gestion,  that  the  physicians  owed  their  safety  to  "  the  exigencies  of  the 
ladies." 


VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

<£The  Reasons  given  for  Adherence  to  the  Crown.  ,  The  Published  Declar 
ations  of  the  Whigs  that  they  wished  for  a  Redress  of  Wrongs  and  the 
Restoration  of  Ancient  Privileges,  as  found  in  "  Novanglus."  Rapid 
Statement  of  Colonial  Disabilities,  which  the  Whig  Leaders  hardly  men 
tioned  in  the  Controversy,  and  which  appear  embodied  for  the  first  time 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Denials  of  Whig  Leaders,  North 
and  South,  that  they  designed  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Controversy  to 
separate  from  England.  {.Reasons  of  the  Loyalists  for  the  Course 
adopted  by  them,  Concluded.  . 

THE  concluding  number  of  "  Novanglus,"  by  John 
Adams,  was  sent  to  press  only  two  days  before  the 
shedding  of  blood  at  Lexington,  and  we  are  to  con 
sider  it  as  an  authorized  exposition  of  the  avowed 
sentiments  of  the  Whig  leaders.  But  yet,  its  aim  is 
limited  to  a  degree  that  has  often  caused  me  to  muse, 
and  to  ask,  —  Why  were  discussions  on  the  subject 
of  Colonial  inabilities  so  carefully  avoided  ? 

The  private  and  the  professional  life  of  Mr.  Adams 
afford  us  a  fair  illustration  of  these  disabilities;  and 
why  did  he  not  once  mention  them  ? 

If  his  horse  flung  a  shoe,  the  stinging,  insulting 
declaration  of  Pitt,  that  an  American  could  not,  of 
right,  make  so  much  as  the  nails  required  to  set  it, 
rung  in  his  ears.  If  he  entered  the  Court  of  Admi 
ralty  to  defend  the  "smugglers,"  or  illicit  traders, 
who  were  prosecuted  by  the  Crown  officers,  he  was 
reminded  that  his  countrymen  were  forbidden  by 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  63 

statute  to  make  a  voyage  to  Asia  or  Africa,  to  South 
America,  to  all  the  foreign  islands  in  the  Caribbean 
Sea,  to  nearly  all  continental  Europe,  or  even  to  Ire 
land,  on  pain  of  confiscation  of  ship  and  cargo.  If 
he  bought  a  hat,  the  legislation  against  Colonial,  and 
in  favor  of  British,  hatters,  occurred  to  him.  If,  in 
journeying  to  the  courts  of  Massachusetts  and  Maine, 
he  passed  waterfalls  running  to  waste,  he  mused  upon 
the  acts  of  Parliament  which  secured  the  Colonial 
market  in  monopoly  to  the  manufacturers  of  Man 
chester.  If  he  entered  a  public  office,  he  met  the 
pampered  functionaries  who,  "  English  born,"  or  mem 
bers  of  the  "old  families,"  held  their  places  by  life 
tenures,  and  by  descent  from  father  to  son.  If  he 
walked  the  streets,  the  chariots  of  the  high  officers 
of  the  customs,  sent  over  to  revive  obsolete,  and  to 
enforce  newr,  laws  of  trade,  rolled  in  grandeur  by  him. 
If  he  had  traffic  with  his  neighbor,  he  was  compelled 
to  remember  that,  while  the  mother-country  drained 
all  America  of  coin,  the  Board  of  Trade  —  a  curse  to 
the  New  England  Colonies  from  beginning  to  end  — 
had  suggested,  and  Parliament  had  enacted,  not 
amendments  in  the  manner  of  emitting  and  redeem 
ing  a  paper  currency,  as  bound  to  do,  but  its  sup 
pression.  Nor,  if  he  read  the  speeches  of  British 
Whigs,  did  his  keen  eye  see  more  in  behalf  of  his 
country  than  an  opposition  to  particular  measures, 
and  to  the  party  in  power  ;  for  there  stood  out  in 
characters  of  fire,  the  bold,  unqualified  statement  of 
Burke,  that  the  sole  purpose  of  Colonies  was  to  be 
"  serviceable  "  to  the  parent  State.  In  a  word,  with 
him,  and  everywhere  around  him,  were  the  humil 
iating  evidences  that  an  American  was,  politically, 


64  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

socially,  and  commercially,  the  inferior  of  an  English 
man. 

If  neither  the  author  of  "Novanglus"  nor  any  other 
Whig  addressed  the  American  people  on  these  mo 
mentous  wrongs  and  denials,  which,  for  generations 
had  palsied  the  arm  of  New  England  and  had  rankled 
in  the  universal  American  heart,  and  which,  in  less 
than  fifteen  months,  were  embodied  —  in  stirring 
array --in  the  Declaration  of  Separation,  the  Loy 
alists  are  to  be  excused  for  acting  in  conformity  with 
the  grievances  stated  by  their  opponents. 

The  denial  that  independence  was  the  final  object, 
was  constant  and  general.  To  obtain  concessions. and 
to  preserve  the  connection  with  England,  was  affirmed 
everywhere  ;  and  John  Adams,  years  after  the  peace, 
went  farther  than  this,  for  he  said  :  —  "  There  was  not 
a  moment  during  the  Revolution,  ivhen  I  would  not  have  given 
every  thing  I  possessed  for  a  restoration  to  the  stale  of  things 
before  the  contest  began,  provided  ive  could  have  had  a  suffi 
cient  security  for  its  continuance"  If  Mr.  Adams  be 
regarded  as  expressing  the  sentiments  of  the  Whigs, 
the//  were  willing  to  remain  Colonists,  provided  they 
could  have  had  their  rights  secured  to  them  ;  while 
the  Tories  were  contented  thus  to  continue,  without 
such  security.  Such,  as  it  appears  to  me,  was  the 
only  difference  between  the  two  parties  prior  to  hos 
tilities  ;  and  many  Whigs,  like  Mr.  Adams,  would  have 
been  willing  to  rescind  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  and  to  forget  the  past,  upon  proper  guarantees 
for  the  future.  This  mode  of  stating  the  question 
and  of  defining  the  difference  between  the  two  parties 
-  down  to  a  certain  period,  at  least  —  cannot  be  ob 
jected  to,  unless  the  sincerity  and  truthfulness  of  some 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  65 

of  the  most  eminent  men  in  our  history  are  directly 
impeached  ;  and,  if  any  are  prepared  to  dispute  their 
veracity,  it  may  still  be  asked,  whether  the  Tories  ought 
not  to  be  excused  for  believing  them.  Franklin's  testi 
mony,  a  few  days  before  the  affair  at  Lexington,  was, 
that  he  had  "  more  than  once  travelled  almost  from 
one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  and  kept  a 
variety  of  company,  eating,  drinking,  and  conversing 
with  them  freely,  [and]  never  had  heard  in  any  conver-  N 
sat  ion  from  any  person,  drunk  or  sober,  the  leaxt  expression 
of  a  ivishfor  a  separation,  or  a  hint  that  sucli  a  thine/  would 
be  advantageous  to  America"  Mr.  Jay  is  quite  as  ex 
plicit.  "During  the  course  of  my  life,"  said  he,  "and 
until  the  second  petition  of  Congress  in  1775,  I never  , 
did  hear  an  American  of  any  class,  or  of  any  description, 
express  a  ivish  for  the  independence  of  the  Colonies"  " It 
has  always  been,  and  still  is,  my  opinion  and  belief, 
that  our  country  was  prompted  and  impelled  to  inde 
pendence  by  necessity,  and  not  by  choice?  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  affirmed,  "  What,  eastward  of  New  York,  might 
have  been  the  dispositions  towards  England  before 
the  commencement  of  hostilities,  I  know  not ;  but 
before  that  I  never  heard  a  whisper  of  a  disposition 
to  separate  from  Great  Britain  ;  and  after  that,  its  pos 
sibility  ivas  contemplated  with  affliction  by  all."  Washing 
ton,  in  1774,  fully  sustains  these  declarations,  and,  in 
the  "Fairfax  County  Resolves,"  it  was  complained, 
that  ^malevolent  falsehoods"  were  propagated  by  the 
ministry  to  prejudice  the  mind  of  the  king:  " partic 
ularly  that  there  is  an  intention  in  the  American  Colonies  to 
set  up  for  independent  States"  Mr.  Madison  was  not  in 
public  life  until  May,  1776,  but  he  says,  "It  has 
alwrays  been  my  impression,  that  a  r establishment  of 


66  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

the  Colonial  relations  to  the  parent  country,  as  they  tvere 
previous  to  the  controversy,  was  the  real  object  of  every 
class  of  the  people,  till  the  despair  of  obtaining 
it,"  &C.1 

I  have  to  repeat,  that  the  only  way  to  dispose  of 
testimony  like  this,  is  to  impeach  the  persons  who 
have  given  it.  I  am  of  Whig  descent,  and  am  proud 
of  my  lineage.  With  the  principles  of  men  who, 
when  it  was  ascertained  that  a  redress  of  grievances 
could  not  be  obtained,  preferred  to  remain  British  sub 
jects,  I  have  neither  communion  nor  sympathy ;  and 
I  may  be  pardoned  for  adding  that  I  have  watched 
the  operations  and  tendencies  of  the  Colonial  system 
of  government  too  long  and  too  narrowly,  modified 
as  it  now  is,  not  to  entertain  for  it  the  heartiest  dis 
like.  Yet  I  would  do  the  men  who  were  born  under 
it,  and  were  reconciled  to  it,  justice  —  simple  justice  ; 
and  if,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  a  "possibility"  of  the 
necessity  of  a  separation  of  the  two  countries,  "  was 
contemplated  with  affliction  ly  all"  and  if  the  state 
ments  made  by  Franklin,  Adams,  Jay,  Madison,  and 
Washington,  are  to  be  considered  as  true  and  as  deci 
sive,  I  renewedly  ask,  what  other  line  of  difference 
existed  between  the  Whigs  and  Tories,  than  the  terms 
on  which  the  connection  of  the  Colonies  with  England  should 
be  continued. 

My  object  in  the  attention  bestowed  on  this  point 
has  been  to  remove  the  erroneous  impression*. which 
seems  to  prevail,  that  the  Whigs  proposed,  and  the 
Tories  opposed  independence,  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  controversy.  Instead  of  this,  we  have  seen, 

1  See  Sparks'  Washington,  Vol.  II.  pp.  498,  500,  501.  The  italics 
arc  my  own,  except  in  the  extract  from  the  "Fairfax  County  Resolves." 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  67 

that  quite  fourteen  years  elapsed  before  the  question 
was  made  a  party  issue,  and  that,  even  then,  "  neces 
sity,"  and  not  "  choice,"  caused  a  dismemberment  of 
the  empire.     Since  it  has  appeared,  therefore,  from 
the  highest  sources,  that  the  Whigs  resolved  finally 
upon  revolution  because  they  were  denied  the  rightsx 
of  Englishmen,  and  not  because  they  disliked  mon-  \"' 
archical  institutions,  the  Tories  may  be  relieved  from  i 
the  imputation  of  being  the  only  "  monarchy-men  " 
of  the  time. 

Again,  and  to  conclude  :  Intelligent  loyalists,  when 
asked  why  they  adhered  to~~the  Crown,  have  said, 
that  those  who  received  the  name  of  "  Tories  "  were 
at  first,  indeed  for  some  years,  striving  to  preserve 
order  and  an  observance  of  the  rights  of  persons  and 
property ;  that  many,  who  took  sides  at  the  outset  as 
mere  conservators  of  the  peace,  were  denounced  by 
those  whose  purposes  they  thwarted,  and  were  finally 
compelled,  in  pure  self-defence,  to  accept  of  royal 
protection,  and  thus  to  become  identified  with  the 
royal  party  ever  after.  Again,  it  has  been  stated, 
that,  had  the  naked  question  of  independence  been 
discussed  before  minor,  and  in  many  cases,  local, 
events  had  shaped  their  course,  many,  who  wrere 
driven  forth  to  live  and  die  as  aliens  and  outcasts, 
would  have  terminated  their  career  far  differently  ; 
that  many  were  opposed  to  war  on  grounds  purely 
religious ;  that  some  thought  the  people  enjoyed 
privileges  enough  ;  that  others  were  influenced  by 
their  official  connections  or  aspirations  ;  that  another 
class,  who  seldom  mingled  in  the  affairs  of  active  life, 
loved  retirement,  and  would,  had  the  Whigs  allowed 
them,  have  remained  neutrals  ;  that  some  were  timid 


68  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

men,  some  were  old  men  ;  and  that  tenants  and  de 
pendents  went  with  the  landholders  without  inquiry, 
and  as  a  thing  of  course.  All  of  these  reasons,  and 
numerous  others,  have  been  assigned  at  different  times, 
and  by  different  persons.  But  another  cause,  quite  as 
potent  as  any  of  these,  operated,  it  would  seem, 
upon  thousands ;  namely,  a  dread  of  the  strength  and 
resources  of  England,  and  the  belief  that  successful 
resistance  to  her  power  was  impossible  ;  thnt  the 
Colonies  had  neither  the  men  nor  the  means  to  carry 
on  war,  and  would  be  humbled  and  reduced  to  sub 
mission  with  hardly  an  effort. 

That  motives  and  considerations,  hopes  and  fears, 
like  these,  had  an  influence  in  the  formation  of  the 
last  Colonial  parties,  cannot  be  disputed,  and  the  un 
prejudiced  minds  of  this  generation  should  be  frank 
enough  to  admit  it. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Loyalists  who  entered  the  Military  Service  of  the  Crown. 

As  1  have  preferred  connection  of  subject  to  mere 
chronological  order,  some  of  the  details  belonging  to 
this  branch  of  our  inquiry  have  been  given,  in  order 
to  complete  the  questions  already  discussed. 

We  are  now  to  speak  of  the  Loyalists  who  opposed 
the  Whigs  in  the  field.  Upon  this  topic,  our  writers 
of  history  have  been  almost  silent ;  and  it  is  not  im 
possible  that  some  persons  have  read  books  devoted 
exclusively  to  an  account  of  the  Revolution,  without 
so  much  as  imagining  that  a  part,  and  a  considerable 
part,  of  the  force  employed  to  suppress  the  "  rebel 
lion  "was  composed  of  our  own  countrymen.  The 
two  wars  between  England  and  France,  which  imme 
diately  preceded  the  revolt  of  the  Colonies,  were 
caused  principally  by  disputes  about  rights  of  fishing, 
and  by  unsettled  questions  of  maritime  and  territo 
rial  jurisdiction  in  America;  and  in  these  wars  the 
American  people  had  taken  a  distinguished  part,  In 
fact,  in  aiding  to  put  down  French  pretensions,  our 
fathers  acquired  the  skill  necessary  to  the  successful 
assertion  of  their  own. 

The  age  was  decidedly  military.  Ollice  in  the 
militia  was  even  a  qualification  for  civil  employments. 
The  number  of  colonels,  majors,  and  captains  that 


70  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

appear  as  members  of  the  colonial  assemblies,  and? 
subsequently,  of  provincial  congresses,  startles  us- 
The  quarrels  about  rank  in  the  Congress  of  the  con 
tinent  disgust  us. 

And  of  what  account  the  newspaper  essays  and 
letters  of  Samuel  Adams  and  others  ?  the  eloquent 
appeals  in  Fanueil  Hall,  and  in  the  House  of  Eur 
o-esses  of  Virginia  ?  What  of  the  success  of  the 

o 

revolutionary  movement  everywhere,  but  for  the 
military  skill  and  experience  acquired  in  the  seven- 
years'  war  with  France  ?  The  Colonies  furnished  in 
that  war  quite  twenty-eight  thousand  men  in  more 
than  one  of  the  campaigns,  and  every  year  to  the 
extent  of  their  ability. 

In  fine,  it  is  literally  true  that,  for  years  together, 
more  troops,  in  proportion  to  population,  wrere  raised 
in  America  than  in  England;  while,  on  the  ocean,  full 
twelve  thousand  seamen  were  enlisted  in  the  royal 
navy  and  in  the  Colonial  privateers.  Without  the 
aid  of  the  survivors  of  these,  resistance,  or  the 
thought  of  it,  would  have  been  downright  madness. 
And  the  unanimity  and  alacrity  with  which  those 
who  had  fought  at  Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point,  du 
Quesne,  Niagara,  and  Quebec,  espoused  the  popular 
cause  at  first,  and  rallied  under  the  Whig  banner  in 
the  last  resort,  wras  one  of  the  most  honorable  inci 
dents  of  the  era. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  several  officers  of  merit, 
and  some  of  very  considerable  military  talents,  ad 
hered  to  the  royal  side. 

It  may  not  be  possible  to  ascertain  the  number  of 
the  Loyalists  who  took  up  arms,  but,  from  the  best 
evidence  which  1  have  been  able  to  obtain,  I  con- 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  71 

elude  there  were  twenty-five  thousand  at  the  lowest 
computation  ;  and,  unless  their  killed  and  wounded 
in  the  different  battles  and  affrays  in  which  they  were 
engaged  were  unusually  large,  I  have  put  their 
aggregate  force  far  too  low.  Thus,  in  the  fight  at 
Bennington,  or,  more  properly,  Hoosiek ;  in  the  enter 
prise  of  Sullivan  at  Staten  Island ;  in  the  adventure 
of  Nelson  at  New  Jersey  ;  in  the  affray  of  Pickens 
with  a  band  of  Tories  who  were  on  their  way  to  the 
British  camp  in  Georgia ;  in  the  battle  of  King's 
Mountain  ;  in  four  actions  of  Colonel  Washington, 
Marion,  Lee,  and  Sumter,  the  aggregate  of  slain, 
wounded,  and  prisoners,  was  upwards  of  twenty- 
three  hundred,  or  nearly  a  tenth  part  of  my  estimate. 
That,  in  the  various  conflicts  of  the  illustrious  com- 
mander-in-chief ;  in  those  of  Greene,  Lincoln,  and 
Gates,  in  the  South  ;  in  the  rencounters  of  Marion, 
Lee,  and  Sumter,  not  mentioned  above;  in  the  losses  of 
Try  on,  Simcoe,  De  Lancey,  Johnson,  and  Arnold  ;  in 
their  various  actions  with  the  Whig  forces  or  hast 
ily  assembled  neighborhoods ;  in  the  strifes  between 
Whigs  and  Tories,  hand  to  hand,  and  in  cases  where 
neither  had  authorized  or  commissioned  leaders, 
another  tenth  part  of  twenty-five  thousand  met  with 
a  similar  fate  is  nearly  certain.  At  the  time  of  Corn- 
wallis's  surrender,  a  portion  of  his  army  was  com 
posed  of  native  Americans,  and  his  Lordship  evinced 
great  anxiety  for  their  protection.  Failing  to  obtain 
special  terms  for  them  in  the  articles  of  capitulation, 
he  availed  himself  of  the  conceded  privilege  of  send 
ing  an  armed  ship  northerly,  without  molestation,  to 
convey  away  the  most  obnoxious  among  them.  Bur- 
goyne  had  been  spared  this  trouble  ;  for,  as  his  diffi- 


72  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

culties  had  increased  and  his  dangers  thickened,   the 
Loyalists  had  abandoned  him  to  his  fate. 

And  yet  again  :  In  an  address  of  the  Loyalists  who 
were  in  London  in  1779,  presented  to  the  king,  it  is 
said  that  their  countrymen,  then  in  his  Majesty's  army, 
"  exceeded  in  number  the  troops  enlisted  [by  Congress]  to 
oppose  them"  exclusive  of  those  who  were  " in  service 
in  private  ships  of  war."  In  a  similar  document, 
dated  in  1782,  and  which  was  addressed  to  the  king 
and  both  houses  of  Parliament,  the  same  declaration 
is  repeated,  though  in  stronger  terms,  since  the  lan 
guage  is,  that  "  there  are  many  more  men  in  his  Maj 
esty's  provincial  regiments  than  there  are  in  the 
continental  service."  These  last  addresses  declare, 
moreover,  that  "  the  zeal "  of  the  Loyalists  must  be 
greater  than -that  of  the  "rebels;"  for  "the  desultory 
manner  in  which  the  war  has  been  carried  on  by  first 
taking  possession  of  Boston,  Ehode  Island,  Philadel 
phia,  Portsmouth,  and  Norfolk  in  Virginia,  and  Wil 
mington  in  North  Carolina,  and  then  evacuating  them," 
had  ruined  thousands,  and  involved  others  in  the 
greatest  wrretchedness,  and  had  rendered  enlistments 
tardy  under  "  such  "  discouragements  and  "  very  une 
qual  circumstances."  The  descendants  of  Loyalist 
officers  who  entered  the  military  service  early  in  the 
struggle,  and  continued  in  commission  until  its 
close,  entertain  the  general  views  expressed  in  these 
extracts ;  and  the  opinion  that  Americans  in  the 
pay  of  the  crown  were  quite  as  numerous  as  those 
who  entered  the  army  of  Congress,  is  very  commonly 
'held  by  persons  with  whom  I  have  conversed.  Still, 
I  doubt  whether  either  the  written  or  verbal  state 
ments  are  to  be  relied  on  implicitly,  and  for  the  rea- 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  78 

son,  that,  in  the  former,  I  am  sure  there  are  exaggera 
tions  on  other  subjects,  and  the  latter  rest  on  the 
assertions  of  men  who  were  equally  ready  to  attribute 
the  success  of  the  Whigs  and  their  own  ruin  to  the 
inefficiency  and  bad  management  of  Sir  William 
Howe  and  other  royal  generals.  The  names  of  these 
various  corps/  and  the  names  of  hundreds  of  officers 
who  were  attached  to  them,  will  be  found  in  these 
volumes.  The  impression  that  the  revolutionary  con- 

1  The  King's  Rangers;  the  Royal  Fencible  Americans;  the  Queen's 
Rangers;  the  New  York  Volunteers ;  the  King's  American  Regiment; 
the  Prince  of  Wales's  American  Volunteers;  the  Maryland  Loyalists; 
De  Lancey's  Battalions;  the  Second  American  Regiment;  the  King's 
Rangers  Carolina;  the  South  Carolina  Royalists;  the  North  Carolina 
Highland  Regiment ;  the  King's  American  Dragoons  ;  the  Loyal  Ameri 
can  Regiment ;  the  American  Legion  ;  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers ;  the 
British  Legion  ;  the  Loyal  Foresters  ;  the  Orange  Rangers  ;  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Loyalists ;  the  Guides  and  Pioneers ;  the  North  Carolina  Volun 
teers  ;  the  Georgia  Loyalists ;  the  West  Chester  Volunteers.  These  corps 
were  all  commanded  by  colonels  or  lieutenant-colonels;  and,  as  De  Lan 
cey's  Battalions  and  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers  consisted  each  of  three 
battalions,  here  were  twenty-eight.  To  these,  the  Loyal  New  Englanders, 
the  Associated  Loyalists,  and  Wentworth's  Volunteers,  remain  to  be  added. 
Still  further,  Col.  Archibald  Hamilton,  of  New  York,  commanded  at  one 
period  seventeen  companies  of  loyal  militia. 

Again,  at  different  periods,  several  battalions  were  in  the  field  at  the 
South.  The  officers  of  twenty-one  corps  were  considered  entitled  to  half- 
pay,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  proceedings  in  the  House  of  Commons,  June  27, 
1783. 

"  The  order  of  the  day  for  going  into  a  Committee  of  Supply  being 
moved  and  carried,  — 

"  Lord  North  rose  to  move  that  it  be  an  instruction  to  the  said  Commit 
tee  to  receive  and  take  into  their  consideration  a  proportion  of  half-pay 
to  the  officers  of  certain  American  corps,  raised  to  serve  in  America  dur 
ing  the  late  war.  His  Lordship  said,  that  the  half-pay  for  the  whole  of 
the  officers  of  the  twenty-one  corps  would  amount  to  £31,783.  5s.  IQd.  ; 
but  that  he  would,  in  the  Committee,  move  only  for  £15,000  towards,  and 
on  account  of,  half-pay  to  these  corps. 

"  The  question  was  carried  without  a  division.  The  House  then  went 
into  the  Committee  of  Supply,  and  voted  the  half-pay  without  any  debate." 


VOL.    I. 


74  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

test  should  have  terminated  differently  was  very 
common,  and  in  many  it  was  very  strong.  That  they 
- "  the  loyal,  the  true "  -  should  have  been  the 
losers  in  the  strife;  and  "  the  false  and  the  rebellious  " 
the  winners ;  and  that  the  former  should  have  been 
driven  from  the  country  in  which  they  were  born,  to 
commence  life  anew  in  unbroken  forests,  were  circum 
stances  over  which  they  continually  brooded,  and  to 
which  they  were  never  reconciled.  They  insisted, 
and  those  who  have  inherited  their  names  and  pos 
sessions,  and  many  of  their  prejudices  and  opinions, 
still  insist,  that  either  Sir  William  Howe,  or  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  his  successor,  could  and  should  have  quelled 
"the  rebellion,"  and  that  the  former,  especially,  is 
wholly  inexcusable.  If,  by  their  course  of  reason 
ing,  Sir  William  had  occupied  Dorchester  Heights  and 
the  highlands  of  Charlestown,  as  a  sagacious  general 
would  have  done,  and  as  his  force  and  park  of  artil 
lery  allowed  him  to  do,  all  the  disasters  to  the  royal 
arms  which  followed  would  have  been  prevented. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Whig  Mobs  before  the  Appeal  to  Arms,  and  tarring  and  feathering. 
Punishments  of  Loyalists  during  the  War  for  overt  Acts  in  favor  of  the 
Crown,  and  for  speaking,  writing,  or  acting  against  the  Whigs.  Pro 
scription,  Banishment,  and  Confiscation  Acts  of  the  State  Governments. 
The  Laws  which  divested  the  Loyalists  of  their  Estates  examined. 

WE  pass  to  take  a  rapid  view  of  the  measures 
which  were  adopted  by  the  Whigs  to  awe  and  to 
punish  their  adversaries.  I  find  some  things  to  con 
demn.  And  first,  the  "  mobs,"  a  large  part  of  which 
were  in  Massachusetts.  That  a  cause  as  righteous  as 
men  were  ever  engaged  in  lost  many  friends  by  the 
fearful  outbreaks  of  popular  indignation,  is  not  to  be 
doubted.  The  wise  man  of  Israel  said,  "  A  brother 
offended  is  harder  to  be  won  than  a  strong  city." 
Those  who  took  upon  themselves  the  sacred  name  of 
"  Sons  of  Liberty,"  needlessly,  and  sometimes  in 
their  very  wantonness,  "  offended,"  beyond  all  hope 
of  recall,  persons  who  hesitated  and  doubted,  and 
who,  for  the  moment,  claimed  to  occupy  the  position 
of  "  neutrals."  The  practice  of  a  tarring  and  feath 
ering,"  however  reprehensible,  had,  perhaps,  but  little 
influence  in  determining  the  final  choice  of  parties. 
This  form  of  punishment,  though  so  frequent  as  to 
qualify  the  saying  of  the  ancient,  that  man  is  a  two- 
legged  animal  without  feathers,  was  borrowed  from  the 
Old  World,  where  it  has  existed  since  the  Crusades  ; 


76  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

and  was  confined  principally  to  the  obnoxious  custom 
house  officers,  pimps,  and  informers  against  smuggled 
goods,  who  adhered  to  the  Crown. 

But  what  "  brother/'  upon  whose  vision  the  break 
ing  up  of  the  Colonial  system  and  the  sovereignty  of 
America  had  not  dawned,  and  who  saw  —  as  even 
the  Whigs  themselves  saw  —  with  the  eyes  only  of 
a  British  subject,  was  won  over  to  the  right  by  the 
arguments  of  mobbing,  burning,  and  smoking  ?  Did 
the  cause  of  America  and  of  human  freedom  gain 
strength  by  the  deeds  of  the  five  hundred  who 
mobbed  Sheriff  Tyng,  or  by  the  speed  of  the  one 
hundred  and  sixty  on  horseback  who  pursued  Com 
missioner  Hallowell  ?  Were  the  shouts  of  an  excited 
multitude,  and  the  crash  of  broken  glass  and  demol 
ished  furniture,  fit  requiems  for  the  dying  Ropes  ? 
Were  Whig  interests  promoted  because  one  thousand 
men  shut  up  the  Courts  of  Law  in  Berkshire,  and 
five  thousand  did  the  same  in  Worcester,  and  mobs 
drove  away  the  judges  at  Springfield,  Taunton,  and 
Plymouth  ?  —  because,  in  one  place,  a  judge  was 
stopped,  insulted,  and  threatened  ;  in  another,  the 
whole  bench  were  hissed  and  hooted  ;  and,  in  a  third, 
were  required  to  do  penance,  hat  in  hand,  in  a  pro 
cession  of  attorneys  and  sheriffs  ?  Did  the  driving  of 
Ingersoll  from  his  estate,  of  Edson  from  his  house, 
and  the  assault  upon  the  home  of  Gilbert,  and  the 
shivering  of  Sewall's  windows,  serve  to  wean  them, 
or  their  friends  and  connections,  from  their  royal 
master?  Did  Ruggles,  when  subsequent  events 
threw  his  countrymen  into  his  power,  forget  that  the 
creatures  which  grazed  his  pastures  had  been  painted, 
shorn,  maimed,  and  poisoned ;  that  he  had  been 


HISTORICAL  ESSAY.  77 

pursued  on  the  highway  by  day  and  night ;  that  his 
dwelling  had  been  broken  open,  and  he  and  his  family 
driven  from  it?  What  Tory  turned  Whig  because 
Saltonstall  was  mobbed,  and  Oliver  plundered,  and 
Leonard  shot  at  in  his  own  house  ? 1  Was  the 
kingly  arm  actually  weakened  or  strengthened  for 
harm,  because  thousands  surrounded  the  mansions 
of  high  functionaries,  and  forced  them  into  resigna 
tion ;  or.  because  sheriffs  were  told  that  they  would 
perform  their  duties  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives  ? 
Which  party  gained  by  waylaying  and  insulting,  at 
every  corner,  the  "  Rescinders,"  the  "  Protesters,''  and 
the  "  Addressers  ?  "  —  which,  by  the  burning  of  the 
mills  of  Putnam  ?  Had  widows  and  orphans  no  addi 
tional  griefs,  because  the  Probate  Courts  were  closed 
by  the  multitude,  and  their  officers  were  driven  under 
cover  of  British  guns  ?  Did  it  serve  a  good  end  to 
endeavor  to  hinder  Tories  from  getting  tenants,  or  to 
prevent  persons  who  owed  them  from  paying  honest 
debts  ?  On  whose  cheek  should  have  been  the  blush 
of  shame,  when  the  habitation  of  the  aged  and  feeble 
Foster  was  sacked,  and  he  had  no  shelter  but  the 
woods  ?  —  when  Williams,  as  infirm  as  he,  was  seized  at 
night,  dragged  away  for  miles,  and  smoked  in  a  room 
with  fastened  doors  and  a  closed  chimney-top  ?  What 
father,  who  doubted,  wavered,  and  doubted  still, 
whether  to  join  or  fly,  determined  to  abide  the  issue 
in  the  land  of  his  birth,  because  foul  words  were 

1  Many  Loyalists  were  confined  in  private  houses,  some  were  sent  to 
jails,  and  others  to  "  Simsbury  Mines."  But  the  prisons  were  hardly 
proper  places  for  the  confinement  of  such  people  ;  and  it  is  believed  that 
a  large  proportion  of  the  persons  whom  it  was  deemed  proper  to  arrest 
preferred  banishment  to  the  loss  of  liberty,  even  though  they  were  sure 
to  be  comfortably  quartered  in  the  families  or  houses  of  Whigs. 
7  * 


78  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

spoken  to  his  daughters,  or  because  they  were  pelted 
when  riding,  or  moving  in  the  innocent  dance  ?  Is 
there  cause  for  wonder  that  some  who  still  live  should 
say,  of  their  own  or  of  their  fathers'  treatment, 
that  "  persecution  made  half  of  the  king's  friends  ?  " 
The  good  men  of  the  period  mourned  these  and  sim 
ilar  proceedings,  and  they  may  be  lamented  now. 
The  warfare  waged  against  persons  at  their  own 
homes  and  about  their  lawful  avocations  is  not  to  be 
justified  ;  and  the  "  mobs  "  of  the  Eevolution  are  to 
be  as  severely  and  as  unconditionally  condemned  as 
the  "  mobs  "  of  the  present  day. 

The  acts  of  legislative  bodies  for  the  punishment 
of  the  adherents  of  the  Crown  were  numerous.  In 
Rhode  Island,  death  and  confiscation  of  estate  were 
the  penalties  provided  by  law  for  any  person  who 
communicated  with  the  ministry  or  their  agents,  or 
who  afforded  supplies  to  the  forces,  or  piloted  the 
armed  ships  of  the  king. 

In  Connecticut,  the  offences  of  supplying  the  royal 
army  or  navy,  of  giving  them  information,  of  enlist 
ing  or  procuring  others  to  enlist  in  them,  and  of  pilot 
ing  or  assisting  naval  vessels,  were  punished  more 
mildly,  and  involved  only  the  loss  of  estate,  and  of 
personal  liberty  for  a  term  not  exceeding  three  years. 
To  speak  or  write  or  act  against  the  doings  of  Con 
gress,  or  the  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  was  punisha 
ble  by  disqualification  for  office,  imprisonment,  and 
the  disarming  of  the  offender. 

In  Massachusetts,  a  person  suspected  of  enmity  to 
the  Whig  cause  could  be  arrested  under  a  magistrate's 
warrant,  and  banished,  unless  he  would  swear  fealty 
to  the  friends  of  liberty ;  and  the  selectmen  of  towns 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  79 

could  prefer  charges  of  political  treachery  in  town- 
meeting,  and  the  individual  thus  accused,  if  convicted 
by  a  jury,  could  be  sent  into  the  enemy's  jurisdiction. 
Massachusetts  also  designated  by  name,  and  generally 
by  occupation  and  residence,  three  hundred  and  eight 
of  her  people,  of  whom  seventeen  had  been  inhab 
itants  of  Maine,  who  had  fled  from  their  homes,  and 
denounced  against  any  one  of  them  who  should  re 
turn,  apprehension,  imprisonment,  and  transportation 
to  a  place  possessed  by  the  British ;  and,  for  a  second 
voluntary  return,  without  leave,  death,  without  bene 
fit  of  clergy. 

New  Hampshire  passed  acts  similar  to  these,  under 
which  seventy-six  of  her  former  citizens  were  prohib 
ited  from  coming  within  her  borders,  and  the  estates 
of  the  most  obnoxious  were  declared  to  be  for 
feited. 

Virginia  passed  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  per 
sons  of  a  given  description  should  be  deemed  and 
treated  as  aliens,  and  that  their  property  should  be 
sold,  and  the  proceeds  go  into  the  public  treasury  for 
future  disposal ;  and  also  a  law  prohibiting  the  migra 
tion  of  certain  persons  to  that  Commonwealth,  and 
providing  penalties  for  the  violation  of  its  provis 
ions. 

In  New  York,  the  county  committees  were  author 
ized  to  apprehend,  and  decide  upon  the  guilt  of  such 
inhabitants  as  were  supposed  to  hold  correspondence 
with  the  enemy,  or  had  committed  some  other  speci 
fied  act ;  and  they  might  punish  those  whom  they 
adjudged  to  be  guilty  with  imprisonment  for  three 
months,  or  banishment.  There,  too,  persons  opposed 
to  liberty  and  independence  were  prohibited  from 


80  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

practising  law  in  the  courts  ;  and  the  effects  of  fifty- 
nine  persons,  of  whom  three  were  women,  and  their 
rights  of  remainder  and  reversion,  were  to  pass,  by 
confiscation,  from  them  to  the  "  people." 

In  New  Jersey,  one  act  was  passed  to  punish  trai 
tors  and  disaffected  persons ;  another,  for  taking  charge 
of  and  leasing  the  real  estates,  and  for  forfeiting  the' 
personal  estates,  of  certain  fugitives  and  offenders  ; 
a  third,  for  forfeiting  to  and  vesting  in  the  State 
the  real  property  of  the  persons  designated  in  the 
second  statute  ;  and  a  fourth,  supplemental  to  the  act 
first  mentioned. 

In  Pennsylvania,  the  number  of  persons  who  were 
attainted  of  treason  to  the  State  by  special  acts,  or 
by  proclamations  of  the  President  and  Council,  was 
nearly  five  hundred. 

The  act  of  Delaware  provided  that  the  property, 
both  real  and  personal,  of  certain  persons  who  were 
named,  and  who  were  forty-six  in  number,  should  be 
forfeited  to  the  State,  "  subject  nevertheless  to  the 
payment  of  the  said  offenders'  just  debts,"  unless,  as 
in  Pennsylvania,  they  gave  themselves  up  to  trial  for 
the  crime  of  treason  in  adhering  to  the  royal  cause. 

Maryland  seized,  confiscated,  and  appropriated  all 
property  of  persons  in  allegiance  to  the  British  crown, 
and  appointed  commissioners  to  carry  out  the  terms 
of  three  statutes  which  were  passed  to  effect  these 
purposes. 

In  North  Carolina,  the  confiscation  act  embraced 
sixty-five  specified  individuals  and  four  mercantile 
firms ;  and,  by  its  terms,  not  only  included  the 
"lands."  of  these  persons  and  commercial  houses,  but 
their  "  negroes  and  other  personal  property." 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  81 

The  law  of  .Georgia,  which  was  enacted  very 
near  the  close  of  the  struggle,  declared  certain 
persons  to  have  been  guilty  of  treason  against  that 
State,  and  their  estates  to  be  forfeited  for  their 
offences. 

South  Carolina  surpassed  all  other  members  of.  the 
Confederacy,  Pennsylvania  and  Massachusetts  ex- 
cepted.  The  Loyalists,  whose  rights,  persons,  and 
property  were  affected  by  legislation,  were  divided 
into  four  classes.  The  persons  who  had  offended  the 
least,  —  who  were  forty-five  in  number,  —  were  al 
lowed  to  retain  their  estates,  but  were  amerced  twelve 
per  cent,  of  their  value.  Soon  after  the  fall  of 
Charleston,  and  when  disaffection  to  the  Whig  cause 
was  so  general,  two  hundred  and  ten  persons,  who 
styled  themselves  the  "  principal  inhabitants "  of 
the  city,  signed  an  address  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
in  which  they  state  that  they  have  every  inducement 
to  return  to  their  allegiance,  and  ardently  hope  to  be 
readmitted  to  the  character  and  condition  of  British 
subjects.  These  "  Addressers  "  formed  another  class. 
Of  these  two  hundred  and  ten,  sixty-three  were  ban 
ished,  and  lost  their  property  by  forfeiture,  either  for 
this  offence  or  the  graver  one  of  affixing  their  names 
to  a  petition  to  the  royal  general,  to  be  armed  on  the 
royal  side.  Eighty  persons,  composing  another  class, 
were  also  banished  and  divested  of  their  estates,  for 
the  crime  of  holding  civil  or  military  commissions 
under  the  Crown,  after  the  conquest  of  South  Caro 
lina,  And  the  same  penalties  were  inflicted  upon 
thirteen  others,  who,  on  the  success  of  Lord  Corn 
wall  is  at  Camden,  presented  his  Lordship  with  their 
congratulations ;  and  still  fourteen  others  were  ban- 


82  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

ished,  and  deprived  of  their  estates,  because  they  were 
obnoxious,  y>' 

In  discussing  the  expediency  and  justice  of  the 
laws  which  drove  or  kept  the  Loyalists  in  exile,  as 
well  as  those  which  alienated  their  estates,  two  points 
present  themselves ;  namely,  whether  the  Whigs 
were  right  in  opposing  the  pretensions  of  England, 
and  whether  they  did  more  than  others  have  done  in 
civil  wars,  —  wars  which  are  always  the  most  bitter 
and  unrelenting,  —  always  the  most  obstinate  and 
difficult  to  terminate.  The  question  suggested  by 
the  first  query  is  no  longer  open  to  dispute ;  for  the 
mother-country  has  herself  admitted  that  she  wras 
wrong  in  her  treatment  of  the  thirteen  Colonies. 

If,  now,  the  Whigs  were  in  the  right,  they  might  do 
everything  necessary  to  insure  success ;  and  we  are  thus 
brought  to  the  second  point  of  inquiry.  The  ques 
tion  of  the  banishment  of  the  Loyalists  addresses 
itself  to  me  in  two  forms:  that  of  the  temporary  and 
that  of  the  permanent  exile  of  the  men  who  suffered 
it.  Among  these  men  were  many  persons  of  great 
private  worth,  who,  in  adhering  to  the  Crown,  were 
governed  by  conscience  and  a  stern  regard  to  duty  ; 
and  the  offences  of  others  consisted  merely  in  a 
nominal  attachment  to  the  mother-country,  or  in  a 
disinclination  to  witness  or  participate  in  the  horrors 
of  a  civil  war.  Yet  they  were  Loyalists  ;  and  it  so 
happened  that  the  best  men  of  that  party  were,  of  all 
others,  those  who  could  do  the  Whigs  the  greatest 
mischief;  since,  if  they  remained  at  liberty,  their 
character  and  moderation  rendered  their  counsel  and 
advice  of  vast  service  to  their  own,  and  of  vast  harm 
to  the  opposite  party,  amidst  the  doubts  and  fears 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

which  prevailed,  and  had  a  direct  tendency  to  pro 
long  and  embitter  the  contest,  It  became  necessary, 
therefore,  to  secure  them  either  by  imprisonment  or 
by  exile.  The  first  course,  while  requiring  a  consid 
erable  force  to  guard  them,  which  the  Whigs  could 
not  spare,  would  have  been  far  less  merciful  than  the 
other,  and  banishment,  consequently,  was  best  for 
both  parties.  Again,  a  considerable  proportion  of 
those  who  were  proscribed,  voluntarily  abandoned  the 
country,  and  were  absent  from  it  at  the  passage  of 
the  banishment  acts  ;  and  this  was  especially  the  case 
in  Massachusetts.  To  prevent  the  return  of  these 
persons  was  as  necessary  to  accomplish  the  objects  of 
the  struggle,  as  it  was  to  secure  those  who  remained 
at  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  their  homes. 

Still  it  may  be  wished  that  greater  discrimination 
had  been  exercised  in  selecting  those  who  were 
deemed  fit  objects  of  severity.  Persons  whose  crimes 
against  the  country  and  against  humanity  deserved 
death,  escaped  the  banishment  acts  of  the  States  to 
which  they  belonged  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  these 
acts  embraced  persons  who,  from  the  circumstances  of 
their  condition,  were  utterly  powerless,  who  had  done, 
and  could  do,  no  evil.  It  may  be  wished,  also,  that 
those  who  were  deemed  fit  objects  of  severity  had 
been  allowed  the  forms  of  trial.  Courts  of  Admiralty 
were  established  for  condemning  prizes,  and  men 
might  reasonably  claim  that,  while  their  property 
was  dealt  with  according  to  the  established  rules  of 
society,  their  persons  should  not  be  more  summarily 
disposed  of.  Means  for  the  trial  of  Loyalists  were 
abundant.  It  is  our  boast,  indeed,  that,  unlike  the 
usual  course  of  things  in  civil  war,  civil  government 


84  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

was  maintained  throughout  the  whole  period  of  our 
Revolution,  with  hardly  an  interruption  anywhere. 
This  is  a  fact  as  honorable  as  it  is  remarkable.  "  I 
will  maintain  as  long  as  I  live/'  said  Dupin,  the  great 
French  advocate,  "  that  the  condemnation  of  Marshal 
Ney  was  not  just,  for  his  defence  was  not  free."  Per 
haps  posterity  will  entertain  something  of  the  same 
sentiment  with  regard  to  the  course  pursued  by  our 
fathers  in  not  allowing  their  opponents  an  opportu 
nity  to  appeal  to  the  tribunals.  In  this  particular, 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  as  it  will  be  remembered, 
adopted  a  mode  less  objectionable  than  that  of  some 
other  States,  inasmuch  as  they  "  summoned  "  the  per 
sons  against  whom  they  proceeded,  to  appear  and 
"  surrender  themselves  for  trial."  Besides,  it  was 
common,  during  the  war,  for  the  military  commanders 
to  order  courts-martial  to  take  cognizance  of  the  of 
fences,  and  to  fix  the  punishment  of  Tories  ;  and  a 
future  generation  may  possibly  ask,  why,  when  the 
sword  was  suspended  amid  the  turmoils  of  the  camp, 
to  hear  the  defence  of  the  accused,  that  weapon  was 
so  wielded  in  the  hands  of  civilians  as  to  "  transform 
them  into  persecutors,  and  into  martyrs  those  whom 
it  smote." 

The  laws  which  divested  the  Loyalists  of  their  es 
tates  demand  a  moment's  examination.  Keeping  in 
view  that  the  Whigs  were  right  in  resisting  the  pre 
tensions  of  the  mother-country,  and  that,  there 
fore,  they  might  very  properly  use  every  necessary 
means  to  insure  success,  we  shall  find  no  difficulty  in 
admitting  that  the  property  of  their  opponents  could 
be  rightfully  appropriated  to  aid  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.;  They  devoted  their  own  fortunes,  they 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  85 

importuned  several  of  the  powers  of  Europe  for  loans, 
and  they  entailed  upon  their  posterity  a  large  debt ; 
and  it  would  indeed  be  strange,  if  they  could  not  have 
made  forced  levies  upon  the  estates  of  those  who 
not  only  refused  to  help  them,  but  were  actually  in 
arms,  or  otherwise  employed  against  them.  To  eman 
cipate  the  American  continent  was  a  great  work: 
the  Whigs  felt  and  knew,  what  is  iio\v  everywhere 
conceded,  that  the  work  was  both  necessary  and  right 
eous  ;  and  requiring,  as  its  speedy  accomplishment 
did,  the  labor  of  every  hand  and  contributions  from 
every  purse,  the  throwing  into  the  treasury  the  jewels 
of  women  and  the  holiday  allowances  of  children, 
they  are  to  stand  justified  for  a  resort  to  the  seques 
tration  of  the  possessions  of  those  who  assisted  in  the 
vain  endeavor  to  subdue  them,  and  to  renew  the 
bonds  which  had  bound  them.  The  property  of  those 
who  held  commissions  in  the  king's  army  and  in  the 
Loyalist  corps  was  the  property  of  enemies,  and,  as 
such,  could  be  converted  to  public  uses ;  while  that 
of  others,  who  made  their  election  to  accept  of  ser 
vice  in  civil  capacities,  is  to  be  regarded  in  the  same 
light.  The  "Absentees,"  or  those  who  retired  from 
the  country  and  lived  abroad  in  privacy,  wrere  a  differ 
ent  class ;  and  it  may  be  doubted  wrhether  the  same 
rule  was  applicable  to  them,  and  whether  fines  or 
amercements  were  not  the  more  proper  modes  of 
procedure  against  the  estates  which  they  abandoned 
in  quitting  the  country.  The  Whigs  assumed,  how 
ever,  that  "  every  government  hath  a  right  to  com 
mand  the  personal  services  of  its  own  members,  when 
ever  the  exigencies  of  the  State  shall  re'quire,  espe 
cially  in  times  of  impending  or  actual  invasion ; " 


VOL.  I. 


86  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

and  that  "  no  member  thereof  can  then  withdraw 
himself  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  government, 
without  justly  incurring  the  forfeiture  of  his  prop 
erty,  rights,  and  liberties,  holden  under  and  derived 
from  that  constitution  of  government,  to  the  sup 
port  of  which  he  hath  refused  his  aid  and  assistr 
ance." 

It  is  to  be  further  urged  in  defence  of  the  principle 
of  confiscation,  that  in  civil  conflicts  the  right  of  one 
party  to  levy  upon  the  other  has  been  generally  ad 
mitted  ;  that  the  practice  has  frequently  accorded 
with  the  theory  ;  and,  what  is  still  more  to  the  pur 
pose,  that  the  royal  party  and  king's  generals  exer 
cised  that  right  during  the  struggle.  Thus,  then, 
the  seizure  and  confiscation  of  property  in  the  Rev 
olution  was  not  the  act  of  one  side  merely,  but  of 
both. 

But,  as  has  been  remarked,  there  was  not  with  us. 
as  there  commonly  has  been  in  similar  outbreaks,  a 
transition-  period  between  the  throwing  off  of  one  gov 
ernment  and  the  establishment  of  another ;  and  the 
regret  that  was  expressed  with  regard  to  the  indis 
criminate  banishment  of  persons,  is  equally  applica 
ble  to  the  disposal  of  their  estates ;  and  I  cannot  but 
feel,  that,  inasmuch  as  the  Whigs  when  compared 
with  other  revolutionists,  "  were  without  spot  or 
wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,"  so  they  will  be  held 
to  a  stricter  accountability  by  those  who  shall  here 
after  speak  of  them ;  and  that  we  shall  be  asked 
to  show  for  them,  why,  with  tribunals  established 
and  open  for  the  trial  of  prizes  made  upon  the  sea, 
the  fundamental  rule  of  civilized  society,  that  no 
person  shall  be  deprived  of  "property  but  by  the 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 


87 


judgment  of  his  peers/'  was  violated  ;  and  why, 
without  being  "  confronted  by  witnesses,"  and  with 
out  the  verdict  of  a  "  jury "  and  decrees  of  a 
court,  any  man  in  America  was  divested  of  his 
lands. 


CHAPTER   X. 

The  Course  of  the  "  Violent  Whigs  "  towards  the  Loyalists,  at  the  Peace, 
discussed  and  condemned. 

AT  the  peace,  a  majority  of  the  Whigs  of  several 
of  the  States  committed  a  great  crime.  Instead  of 
repealing  the  proscription  and  banishment  acts,  as 
justice  and  good  policy  required,  they  manifested  a 
spirit  to  place  the  humbled  and  unhappy  Loyalists 
beyond  the  pale  of  human  sympathy.  Discrimination 
between  the  conscientious  and  pure,  and  the  unprin 
cipled  and  corrupt,  was  not  perhaps  possible  during 
the  struggle ;  but,  hostilities  at  an  end,  mere  loyalty 
should  have  been  forgiven.  When,  in  the  civil  war  be 
tween  the  Puritans  and  the  Stuarts,  the  former 
gained  the  ascendency,  and  when,  at  a  later  period, 
the  Commonwealth  was  established,  Cromwell  and 
his  party  wisely  determined  not  to  banish  nor  inflict 
disabilities  on  their  opponents  ;  and  so,  too,  at  the 
restoration  of  the  monarchy,  so  general  was  the  am 
nesty  act  in  its  provisions,  that  it  wras  termed  an  act 
of  oblivion  to  the  friends  of  Charles,  and  of  grateful 
remembrance  to  his  foes.1  The  happy  consequences 
which  resulted  from  the  conduct  of  loth  parties  and 
in  both  cases,  were  before  the  men  of  their  own 

1  At  the  restoration  of  Charles  the  Second,  so  general  was  the  adhe 
sion  to  that  monarch,  that  historians  pause  to  express  wonder,  and  to 
inquire  what  had  become  of  the  Cromwell  or  Commonwealth  men  who 
had  overturned  the  monarchy. 


I 

u 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  89 

political  and  religious  sympathies,  the  Puritans  of  the 
North,  and  the  Cavaliers  of  the  South,  in  America. 

All  honor  to  Theodore  Sedgwick  for  staking  his 
popularity  in  behalf  of  his  countrymen  who  adhered 
to  the  Crown  •  to  Natlianiel_  Greene,  for  the  senti 
ment  "  that  it  would  be  the  excess  of  intolerance  to 
persecute  men  for  opinions  which,  but  twenty  years 
before,  had  been  the  universal  belief  of  every  class 
of  society ;  "  to  Alexander  Hamilton,  for  his  earnest 
and  continued  efforts  to  induce  the  Whigs  to  forget 
and  forgive ;  to  John  Jay,  for  the  letter  in  which  he 
said  that  he  "  had  no  desire  to  conceal  the  opinion, 
that,  to  involve  the  Tories  in  indiscriminate  punish 
ment  and  ruin,  would  be  an  instance  of  unnecessary 
rigor  and  unmanly  revenge  without  a  parallel,  except 
in  the  annals  of  religious  rage  in  times  of  bigotry 
and  blindness ;  "  to  James  Iredell,  for  the  "  hearty 
wish  that  the  termination  of  the  war  could  have  been 
followed  with  an  oblivion  of  its  offences ;  "  to  Chris 
topher  Gadsen  and  Francis  Marion,  who,  with  every 
personal  reason  to  be  inexorable,  bravely  contended 
for  the  restoration  of  the  rights  of  tlieir  fallen,  expa 
triated  countrymen. 

In  North  and  South  Carolina,  the  Whigs  and  Tories 
waged  a  war  of  extermination.  Seldom  enough  did 
either  party  meet  in  open  and  fair  fight,  and  give 
and  take  the  courtesies  and  observe  the  rules  of 
civilized  warfare.  But  these  States,  at  the  peace, 
exceeded  all  the  rest  in  moderation  and* mercy.  On 
the  other  hand,  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  and  New 
York  adopted  measures  of  inexcusable  severity.  In 
the  latter  State,  such  was  the  violence  manifested, 
that,  in  August,  1783,  Sir  Guy  Carleton  wrote  to  the 


90  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

President  of  Congress  that  the  Loyalists  "conceive 
the  safety  of  their  lives  depends  on  my  removing 
them  ;  "  that,  "as  the  daily  gazettes  and  publications 
furnish  repeated  proofs,  not  only  of  a  disregard  to 
the  articles  of  peace,  but  barbarous  menaces  from 
committees  formed  in  various  towns,  cities,  and  dis 
tricts,  and  even  at  Philadelphia,  -  -  the  very  place 
which  the  Congress  had  chosen  for  their  residence, — 
I  should  show  an  indifference  to  the  feelings  of  hu 
manity,  as  well  as  to  the  honor  and  interest  of  the 
nation  whom  I  serve,  to  leave  any  that  are  desirous 
to  quit  the  country,  a  prey  to  the  violence  they 
conceive  they  have  so  much  cause  to  apprehend." 
From  another  source,  it  appears  that,  when  the 
news  of  peace  was  known,  the  city  of  New  York 
presented  a  scene  of  distress  not  easily  described ; 
that  adherents  to  the  Crown,  who  were  in  the  army, 
tore  the  lappels  from  their  coats  and  stamped  them 
under  their  feet,  and  exclaimed  that  they  were 
ruined  ;  that  others  cried  out  they  had  sacrificed 
everything  to  prove  their  loyalty,  and  w^ere  now 
left  to  shift  for  themselves,  without  the  friendship  of 
their  king  or  their  country.  Previous  to  the  evacua 
tion,  and  in  September,  upwards  of  twelve  thousand 
men,  women,  and  children  embarked  at  the  city,  at 
Long  and  Staten  Islands,  for  Nova  Scotia  and  the 
Bahamas.  Some  of  these  victims  to  civil  war  tried 
to  make  merry  at  their  doom,  by  saying  that  they 
were  "  bound  to  a  lovely  country,  where  there  are 
nine  months  winter  and  three  months  cold  weather 
every  year  ;  "  while  others,  in  their  desperation,  tore 
down  their  houses,  and,  had  they  not  been  prevented, 
would  have  carried  off  the  bricks  of  which  they  were 
built. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  91 

Those  who  came  North  landed  at  Port  Roseway 
(now  Shelburne)  and  St.  John,  where  many,  utterly 
destitute,  were  supplied  with  food  at  the  public 
charge,  and  were  obliged  to  live  in  huts  built  of  bark 
and  rough  boards. 

These  volumes  contain  the  names  of  most  who 
embarked  in  the  "  September  fleet  "  for  Nova  Scotia, 
and  of  many  who  wont  to  that  province  and  to  Can 
ada  subsequently. 

Among  the  banished  ones  thus  doomed  to  misery 
were  persons  whoso  hearts  and  hopes  had  been  as 
true  as  Washington's  own ;  for,  in  the  divisions  of 
families  which  everywhere  occurred,  and  which 
formed  one  of  the  most  distressing  circumstances  of 
the  conflict,  there  were  wives  and  daughters,  who, 
although  bound  to  Loyalists  by  the  holiest  ties,  had 
given  their  sympathies  to  the  right  from  the  -  begin 
ning;  and  who  now,  in  the  triumph  of  the  cause 
which  had  had  their  prayers,  went  meekly  -  -  as 
woman  ever  meets  a  sorrowful  lot  —  into  hopeless, 
interminable  exile. 

1  have  stood  at  the  graves  of  some  of  these  wives 
and  daughters,  and  have  listened  to  the  accounts  of 
the  living,  in  shame  and  anger.  If,  as  Jefferson 
said,  separation  from  England  was  "  contemplated  with 
affliction  by  all ;  "  if,  as  John  Adams  testified,  Whigs 
like  himself  "  would  have  given  everything  they 
possessed  for  a  restoration  to  the  state  of  things 
before  the  contest  began,  provided  they  could  have 
had  a  sufficient  security  for  its  continuance ; "  and  on 
the  ground  of  policy  alone,  —  how  ill-judged  the  mea 
sures  that  caused  the  settlement  of  the  hitherto  nei*;- 

o 

lected  possessions  of  England  in  this  hemisphere, — 


92  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

Nova  Scotia.  By  causing  the  expatriation  of  many 
thousands  of  our  countrymen,  among  whom  were  the 
well-educated,  the  ambitious,  and  the  versed  in  poli 
tics,  we  became  the  founders  of  two  agricultural  and 
commercial  Colonies  ;  for  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that 
New  Brunswick  formed  a  part  of  Nova  Scotia  until 
1784,  and  that  the  necessity  of  the  division  then 
made  was  of  our  own  creation.  In  like  manner  we 
became  the  founders  of  Upper  Canada.  The  Loyal 
ists  were  the  first  settlers  of  the  territory  thus  de 
nominated  by  the  act  of  1791  ; l  and  the  principal 
object  of  the  line  of  division  of  Canada,  as  estab 
lished  by  Mr.  Pitt,  was  to  place  them  as  a  body  by 
themselves,  and  to  allow  them  to  be  governed  by 
laws  more  congenial  than  those  which  were  deemed 
requisite  for  the  government  of  the  French  on  the 
St.  Lawrence.  For  twenty  years  the  country  border 
ing  on  the  great  lakes  was  decidedly  American. 

Dearly  enough  have  the  people  of  the  United 
States  paid  for  the  crime  of  the  "  violent  Whigs  "  of 
the  Revolution ;  for,  to  the  Loyalists  who  were  driven 
away  and  to  their  descendants,  we  owe  almost  en 
tirely  the  long  and  bitter  controversy  relative  to  our 
northeastern  boundary,  and  the  dispute  about  our 
right  to  the  fisheries  in  the  Colonial  seas. 

The  mischief  all  done,  —  thousands  ruined  and  ban 
ished,  new  British  colonies  founded,  animosities  to 
continue  for  generations  made  certain,  —  the  "violent 

1  It  was  in  a  debate  on  this  bill  that  Fox  and  Burke  severed  the  ties  of 
friendship  which  had  existed  between  them  for  a  long  period.  The  scene 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  that  had  ever  occurred  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Fox,  overcome  by  his  emotions,  wept  aloud.  Burke's  pre 
vious  course  with  regard  to  the  French  Revolution  had  rendered  a  rupture 
at  some  time  probable,  perhaps  certain. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  93 

Whigs  "  of  Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  Virginia, 
were  satisfied  ;  all  this  accomplished,  and  the  statute- 
book  was  divested  of  its  most  objectionable  enact 
ments,  and  a  few  of  the  Loyalists  returned  to  their 
old  homes:  but  by  far  the  greater  part  died  in  ban 
ishment. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Discussions  at  Paris  between  the  Commissioners  for  concluding  Terms  of 
Peace,  on  the  Question  of  Compensation  to  the  Loyalists  for  their  Losses 
(luring  the  War,  by  Confiscation  and  otherwise.  Reasons  why  Congress 
refused  to  make  Recompense,  stated  and  defended.  The  Provisions 
of  the  Treaty  unsatisfactory  in  this  Particular.  The  Parties  interested 
appeal  to  Parliament.  Debates  in  the  Lords  and  Commons.  The 
Recommendation  of  Congress  to  the  States  to  afford  Relief  in  certain 
Cases,  disregarded. 

THE  subject  of  restitution  and  compensation  to  the 
Loyalists,  was  a  source  of  great  difficulty  during  the 
negotiations  for  peace.  The  course  of  the  matter 
may  be  learned  better  from  the  negotiators  them 
selves,  than  from  any  words  of  mine  ;  and  I  there 
fore  make  some  extracts  from  the  Journal  of  Mr. 
Adams/  who  was  one  of  them :  — 

1  The  full  conversations  occupy  several  pages  of  Mr.  Adams's  Journal. 
Tn  making  these  Extracts,  I  have  always  given  the  substance  of  what  was 
said  ;  but  I  have  sometimes  compressed  a  passage,  or  changed  a  word. 

The  Articles  of  the  Treaty  which  relate  to  the  Loyalists  are  the  fourth, 
;fifth,  and  sixth  :  — 

ART.  4.  "  It  is  agreed,  That  Creditors  on  either  side  shall  meet  with 
no  lawful  impediment  to  the  recovery  of  the  full  value  in  sterling  money 
of  all  bond  fide  debts  heretofore  contracted." 

AIIT.  5.  "  It  is  agreed,  That  the  Congress  shall  earnestly  recommend 
it  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  respective  States,  to  provide  for  the  Res 
titution  of  all  Estates,  Rights,  and  Properties  which  have  been  confis 
cated,  belonging  to  real  British  subjects ;  and  also  of  the  Estates,  Rights 
and  Properties  of  those  Persons,  residents  in  Districts  in  Possession  of  his 
Majesty's  Arms,  and  who  have  not  borne  arms  against  the  said  United 
States ;  and  that  Persons  of  any  other  description  shall  have  free  liberty 
to  go  to  any  part  or  parts  of  any  of  the  Thirteen  United  States,  and 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  95 

November  3d,  1782.  »  Dr.  Franklin,  on  Tuesday  last,  told 
me  of  Mr.  Oswald's  demand  of  payment  of  debts,  and  com 
pensation  to  the  Tories  ;  he  said  his  answer  had  been,  we  had 
not  the  power,  nor  had  Congress.  I  told  him  I  had  no  notion 
of  cheating  anybody.  The  question  of  paying  debts,  and 
compensating,  were  two.  I  had  made  the  same  observation 
that  forenoon  to  Mr.  Oswald  and  Mr.  Stracliey." 

November  10.  [Mr.  Adams  waited  on  Count  Vergennes.] 
"  The  Count  asked  me  how  we  went  on  with  the  English.  I 
told  him  we  divided  on  the  Tories  and  the  Penobscot.  The 
Count  remarked  that  the  English  wanted  the  country  there 
4  for  masts.'  I  told  him  I  thought  there  were  few  masts  there  ; 
but  that  I  fancied  it  was  not  masts,  but  Tories,  that  again 
made  the  difficulty.  Some  of  them  claimed  lands  in  the  terri 
tory,  and  others  hoped  for  grants  there." 

November    11.     "  Mr.    Whiteford,   the    secretary    of  Mr. 

therein  to  remain  Twelve  Months  unmolested  in  their  endeavors  to  obtain 
the  Restitution  of  such  of  their  Estates,  Rights,  and  Properties,  as  may 
have  been  confiscated ;  and  that  Congress  shall  also  earnestly  recommend 
to  the  several  States,  a  Reconsideration  and  Revision  of  all  Acts  or  Laws 
regarding  the  Premises,  so  as  to  render  the  said  Laws  or  Acts  perfectly 
consistent,  not  only  with  Justice  and  Equity,  but  with  that  spirit  of  Con 
ciliation,  which,  on  the  return  of  the  blessings  of  Peace,  should  univer 
sally  prevail.  And  that  the  Congress  shall  also  earnestly  recommend  to 
the  several  States,  that  the  Estates,  Rights,  and  Properties  of  such  last- 
mentioned  Persons  shall  be  restored  to  them,  they  refunding  to  any  Per 
sons  who  may  be  now  in  possession,  the  bond  fide  price  (where  any  has 
been  given)  which  such  Persons  may  have  paid  on  purchasing  any  of  the 
said  Lands,  Rights,  or  Properties,  since  the  Confiscation.  And  it  is 
agreed,  That  all  Persons  who  have  any  Interests  in  Confiscated  Lands, 
either  by  Debts,  Marriage  Settlements,  or  otherwise,  shall  meet  with  no 
lawful  impediment  in  prosecution  of  their  just  Rights." 

ART.  6.  "  That  there  shall  be  no  future  Confiscations  made,  nor 
any  Prosecutions  commenced  against  any  Person  or  Persons  for  or  by 
reason  of  the  Part  which  he  or  they  may  have  taken  in  the  present  War; 
and  that  no  Person  shall  on  that  account  suffer  any  future  Loss  or  Dam 
age,  either  in  his  Person,  Liberty,  or  Property ;  and  that  those  who  may 
be  in  confinement  on  such  charges  at  the  Time  of  the  Ratification  of  the 
Treaty  in  America,  shall  be  immediately  set  at  liberty,  and  the  Prosecu 
tions  so  commenced  be  discontinued." 


96  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

Oswald,  came.  We  soon  fell  into  politics.  [Mr.  Adams  said] 
Suppose  a  French  minister  foresees  that  the  presence  of  the 
Tories  in  America  will  keep  up  perpetually  two  parties,  —  a 
French  party  and  an  English  party."  "  The  French  minister 
at  Philadelphia  has  made  some  representations  to  Congress  in 
favor  of  compensation  to  the  Royalists.  We  are  instructed 
against  it,  or  rather  have  no  authority  to  do  it ;  and  if  Con 
gress  should  refer  the  matter  to  the  several  States,  every  one 
of  them,  after  a  delay,  probably  of  eighteen  months,  will 
determine  against  it." 

November  15.  "  Mr.  Oswald  came  to  visit  me.  He  said, 
if  he  were  a  member  of  Congress,  he  would  say  to  the  refu 
gees,  Take  your  property  ;  we  scorn  to  make  any  use  of  it 
in  building  up  our  system.  I  replied,  that  we  had  no  power, 
and  Congress  no  power  ;  that  if  we  sent  the  proposition  of 
compensation  to  Congress,  they  would  refer  it  to  the  States  ; 
and  that,  meantime,  you  must  carry  on  the  Avar  six  or  nine 
months,  certainly,  for  this  compensation,  and  consequently 
spend,  in  the  prosecution  of  it,  six  or  nine  times  the  sum 
necessary  to  make  the  compensation  ;  for  I  presume  this  war 
costs,  every  month,  to  Great  Britain,  a  larger  sum  than  would 
be  necessary  to  pay  for  the  forfeited  estates." 

November  17.  "  Mr.  Vaughan  carne  to  me  ;  he  said  Mr. 
Fitzherbert  had  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Townshend,  that 
the  compensation  would  be  insisted  on." 

November  18.  "  Returned  Mr.  Oswald's  visit.  We  went 
over  the  old  ground  concerning  the  Tories.  He  began  to  use 
arguments  with  me  to  relax.  I  told  him  he  must  not  think 
of  that,  but  must  bend  all  his  thoughts  to  convince  and  per 
suade  his  court  to  give  it  up  ;  that  if  the  terms  now  before 
his  court  were  not  accepted,  the  whole  negotiation  would  be 
broken  off." 

November  25.  "  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Jay,  and  myself,  met 
at  Mr.  Oswald's  lodgings.  Mr.  Strachey  told  us  he  had 
been  to  London,  and  waited  personally  on  every  one  of  the 
king's  cabinet  council,  and  had  communicated  the  last  propo 
sitions  to  them.  They,  every  one  of  them,  unanimously  con- 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  97 

demned  that  respecting  the  Tories  ;  so  that  that  unhappy 
affair  stuck,  as  lie  foresaw  and  foretold  it  would." 

November  26.  [Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Jay,  and  Mr.  Adams] 
u  in  consultation  upon  the  propositions  made  us  yesterday  by 
Mr.  Oswald.  We  agreed  unanimously  to  answer  him,  that 
we  could  not  consent  to  the  article  respecting  the  refuo-ees,  as 
it  now  stands.  The  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  in  endless  dis 
cussions  about  the  Tories.  Dr.  Franklin  is  very  staunch 
against  them  ;  more  decided,  a  great  deal,  on  this  point,  than 
Mr.  Jay  or  myself." 

November  27.  "  Mr.  Benjamin  Vaughan  came  in,  returned 
from  London,  where  he  had  seen  Lord  Shelburne.  He  says, 
he  finds  the  ministry  much  embarrassed  with  the  Tories,  and 
exceedingly  desirous  of  saving  their  honor  and  reputation  in 
this  point  ;  that  it  is  reputation,  more  than  money,"  &c. 

November  29.  "  Met  Mr.  Fitzherbert,  Mr.  Oswald,  Dr. 
Franklin,  Mr.  Jay,  Mr.  Laurens,  and  Mr.  Strachey,  and  spent 
the  whole  day  in  discussions  about  the  fishery  and  the  Tories. 
Mr.  Fitzherbert,  Mr.  Oswald,  and  Mr.  Strachey  retired  for 
some  time  ;  and,  returning,  Mr.  Fitzherbert  said,  that  Mr. 
Strachey  and  himself  had-  determined  to  advise  Mr.  Oswald 
to  strike  with  us  according  to  the  terms  proposed  as  our  ulti 
matum,  respecting  the  fishery  and  the  Loyalists.  We  agreed 
to  meet  to-morrow,  to  sign  and  seal  the  treaties." 

Besides  the  want  of  power  in  Congress  to  make 
the  demanded  recompense  to  the  Loyalists,  as  stated 
in  these  extracts,  there  were  other  objections,  and 
some  quite  as  serious.  First,  many  of  them,  by  their 
falsehoods,  misrepresentations,  and  bad  counsels  to 
the  ministry,  had  undoubtedly  done  much  to  bring 
on  and  protract  the  war ;  so  that,  in  a  good  measure 
at  least,  it  was  just  to  charge  them  with  being  the 
authors  of  their  own  sufferings.  In  the  second  place, 
those  of  them  who  had  borne  arms,  and  assisted  to 
ravage  and  burn  the  towns  on  different  parts  of  the 

VOL.    I.  9 


98  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

coast,  or  had  plundered  the  defenceless  families  of 
the  interior  settlements,  should  have  made,  rather 
than  received,  compensation.  Thirdly,  to  restore  the 
identical  property  of  any  had  become  nearly  impos 
sible,  as  it  had  been  sold,  and,  in  many  cases,  divided 
among  purchasers,  and  could  only  be  wrested  by  ple 
nary  means  from  the  present  possessors.  Fourthly, 
the  country  was  in  no  condition  to  pay  those  who 
had  toiled  and  bled  for  its  emancipation,  or  even  to 
make  good  a  tithe  of  the  losses  which  they  had  suf 
fered  in  consequence  of  the  war ;  much  less  was  there 
the  ability  to  adjust  the  accounts  of  enemies,  whether 
domestic  or  foreign.  The  Loyalists,  as  a  body,  looked 
upon  the  subjugation  of  the  Whigs  as  almost  certain, 
to  the  last;  and  their  delegates  in  New  York  even 
went  so  far  as  to  entertain  a  plan  for  the  government 
of  the  Colonies,  whenever  their  day  of  triumph  should 
come.  If  that  day  had  arrived,  how  would  the  Whigs 
have  fared  at  their  hands  ?  Would  the  claims  of  thou 
sands  who  expended  their  estates  in  the  cause  of 
liberty,  and  who  had  no  shelter  for  their  heads,  have 
been  allowed  ? 

Grounds  somewhat  similar  to  those  which  I  have 
assumed,  induced  Congress,  very  probably,  to  instruct 
their  commissioners  to  enter  into  no  engagements 
respecting  the  Americans  who  adhered  to  the  Crown, 
unless  Great  Britain  would  stipulate,  on  her  part,  to 
make  compensation  for  the  property  which  had  been 
destroyed  by  persons  in  her  service.  With  this  in 
junction  the  commissioners  found  it  impracticable  to 
comply,  inasmuch  as  the}'  deemed  it  necessary  to 
admit  into  the  treaty  a  provision  to  the  effect,  that 
Congress  should  recommend  to  the  several  States  to 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  99 

provide  for  the  restitution  of  certain  of  the  confis 
cated  estates  ;  that  certain  persons  should  be  allowed 
a  year  to  endeavor  to  recover  their  estates  ;  that  per 
sons  having  rights  in  confiscated  lands  should  have 
the  privilege  of  pursuing  all  lawful  means  to  regain 
them  ;  and  that  Congress  should  use  its  recommenda 
tory  power  to  cause  the  States  to  revoke  or  recon 
sider  their  confiscation  laws.  Congress  unanimously 
assented  to  this  arrangement,  and  unanimously  issued 
the  recommendation  to  the  States,  which  the  treaty 
contemplated. 

These  terms  were  very  unsatisfactory,  and  loud 
clamors  arose  in  Parliament  and  elsewhere.  In  the 
House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Wilberforce  said,  that  "when 
he  considered  the  case  of  the  Loyalists,  he  confessed 
he  there  felt  himself  conquered  ;  there  he  saw  his 
country  humiliated  ;  he  saw  her  at  the  feet  of  Amer 
ica  :  still  he  was  induced  to  believe,  that  Congress 
would  religiously  comply  with  the  article,  and  that 
the  Loyalists  would  obtain  redress  from  America." 
Lord  North  said,  that  "never  were  the  honor,  the 
principles,  the  policy  of  a  nation,  so  grossly  abused  as 
in  the  desertion  of  those  men,  who  are  now  exposed 
to  every  punishment  that  desertion  and  poverty  can 
inflict,  because  they  were  not  rebels."  Lord  Mul- 
grave  declared,  that  "  the  article  respecting  the  Loy 
alists  he  could  never  regard  but  as  a  lasting  mon 
ument  of  national  disgrace."  Mr.  Burke  said,  that 
"a  vast  number  of  the  Loyalists  had  been  deluded 
by  England,  and  had  risked  everything,  and  that,  to 
such  men,  the  nation  owed  protection,  and  its  honor 
was  pledged  for  their  security  at  all  hazards."  Mr. 
Sheridan  "  execrated  the  treatment  of  those  unfortu- 


100  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

nate  men,  who,  without  the  least  notice  taken  of  their 
civil  and  religions  rights,  were  handed  over  as  sub 
jects  to  a  power  that  would  not  fail  to  take  vengeance 
on  them  for  their  zeal  and  attachment  to  the  religion 
and  government  of  the  mother-country ; "  and  he 
denounced  as  a  "  crime,"  the  cession  of  the  Amer 
icans  who  had  adhered  to  the  Crown,  "  into  the  hands 
of  their  enemies,  and  delivering  them  over  to  confis 
cation,  tyranny,  resentment,  and  oppression."  Mr. 
Norton  said,  that  "  he  could  not  give  his  assent  to 
the  treaty  on  account  of  the  article  which  related  to 
the  Loyalists."  Sir  Peter  Burrell  considered,  that 
"the  fate  of  these  unhappy  subjects  claimed  the  com 
passion  of  every  human  breast;  for  they  had  been 
abandoned  by  the  ministers,  and  were  left  at  the 
mercy  of  a  Congress  highly  irritated  against  them." 
Sir  Wilbraham  Beetle's  "heart  bled  for  the  Loyalists; 
they  had  fought  and  had  run  every  hazard  for  Eng 
land,  and,  at  a  moment  when  they  had  a  claim  to  the 
greatest  protection,  they  had  been  deserted."  Mr. 
Macdonald  "  forbore  to  dwell  upon  the  case  of  these 
men,  as  an  assembly  of  human  beings  could  scarcely 
trust  their  judgments,  when  so  powerful  an  attack 
was  made  upon  their  feelings." 

In  the  House  of  Lords,  the  opposition  was  quite 
as  violent.  Lord  Walsingham  said,  that  "  he  could 
neither  think  nor  speak  of  the  dishonor  of  leaving 
these  deserving  people  to  their  fate,  with  patience." 
Lord  Viscount  Townshend  considered,  that,  "  to  desert 
men  who  had  constantly  adhered  to  loyalty  and  at 
tachment,  was  a  circumstance  of  such  cruelty  as  had 
never  before  been  heard  of."  Lord  Stormont  said, 
that  "Britain  was  bound  in  justice  and  honor,  grat- 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  101 

itiitle  and  affection,  and  every  tie,  to  provide  for  and 
protect  them/'  Lord  Sackville  regarded;^  the  ab^iv 
donment  of  the  Loyalists  as  a  tame:  of  so,  atrocious 
a  kind,  that,  if  it  had  not  been  alreudy  paintefl-  In-  all 
its  horrid  colors,  he  should  have  attempted  the  ungra 
cious  task,  but  never  should  have  been  able  to  describe 
the  cruelty  in  language  as  strong  and  expressive  as 
were  his  feelings;"  and  again,  that  "a  peace  founded 
on  the  sacrifice  of  these  unhappy  subjects,  must  be 
accursed  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man."  Lord  Lough- 
borough  said,  "  that  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  had 
excited  a  general  and  just  indignation;"  and  that 
neither  "in  ancient  nor  modern  history  had  there 
been  so  shameful  a  desertion  of  men  who  had  sacri 
ficed  all  to  their  duty,  and  to  their  reliance  upon 
British  faith." 

Such  attacks  as  these  did  not,  of  course,  pass  with 
out  replies  in  both  Houses.  The  nature  of  the  de 
fence  of  the  friends  of  the  ministry  will  sufficiently 
appear,  by  the  remarks  of  the  minister  himself. 
Lord  Shelburne  frankly  admitted,  that  the  Loyalists 
were  left  without  better  provision  being  made  for 
them,  "from  the  unhappy  nccesidij  of  public  affairs, 
which  induced  the  extremity  of  submitting  the  fate 
of  their  property  to  the  discretion  of  their  enemies." 
And  he  continued,  "  I  have  but  one  answer  to  give 
the  House  ;  it  is  the  answer  1  gave  my  own  bleeding 
heart.  A  part  must  be  wounded,  that  the  whole  of  the 
empire  may  not  perish.  If  better  terms  could  be  had, 
think  you,  my  Lord,  that  I  would  not  have  embraced 
them  ?  I  had  but  the  alternative  either  to  accept  the  terms 
proposed,  or  continue  the  war"  The  Lord  Chancellor 
parried  the  assaults  of  the  opposition  with  other 

9* 


102  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

weapons.  He  declared,  that  the  stipulations  of  the 
treaty  are -^"specific,"  and,  said  he,  "  my  own  conscious 
honor- will  not  allow  me  to  doubt  the  good  faith  of 
others,  'and1  my  good  wishes  to  the  Loyalists  will  not 
let  me  indiscreetly  doubt  the  dispositions  of  Con- 
oress,"  since  the  understanding  is,  that  "  all  these 
unhappy  men  shall  be  provided  for ; "  yet,  if  it  were 
not  so,  "  Parliament  could  take  cognizance  of  their 
case,  and  impart  to  each  suffering  individual  that 
relief  which  reason,  perhaps  policy,  certainly  virtue 
and  religion,  required." 

It  was  not  expected,  probably,  by  the  British  gov 
ernment,  that  the  "  recommendation "  of  Congress 
to  the  States  would  produce  any  effect.  In  1778, 
and  after  the  evacuation  of  Philadelphia,  the  urgent 
request  of  Congress  to  repeal  the  severe  enact 
ments  against  the  adherents  of  the  Crown  and  to 
restore  their  confiscated  property,  had  been  disre 
garded  ;  and  a  similar  desire  at  the  conclusion  of  hos 
tilities,  though  made  for  different  reasons,  it  could 
not  have  been  supposed  would  be  more  successful. 
^Indeed,  the  idea  that  the  States  would  refuse  compli 
ance,  and  that  Parliament  would  be  required  to  make 
the  Loyalists  some  compensation  for  their  losses,  seems 
to  have  been  entertained  from  the  first.  Lord  Shel- 
burne,  in  the  speech  from  which  I  have  just  quoted, 
remarked,  that,  "without  one  drop  of  blood  spilt,  and  with 
out  one  fifth  of  the  expense  of  one  year's  campaign,  happi 
ness  and  case  can  be  given  to  them  in  as  ample  a  manner  as 
these  blessings  were  ever  in  their  enjoyment"  He  could 
have  meant  nothing  less  by  this  language  than  that, 
by  putting  an  end  to  the  war,  the  empire  saved  both 
life  and  treasure,  even  though  the  amount  of  money 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  103 

required  to  place  the  Loyalists  in  "happiness  and 
ease,"  should  amount  to  some  millions  :  and  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  it  may  he  observed,  hinted  at  compensa 
tion  as  the  remedy,  provided  the  "recommendation" 
of  Congress  should  not  result  favorably.  Besides, 
during  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty,  it  appears  to 
have  been  considered  by  the  commissioners  on  both 
sides,  that  each  party  to  the  contest  must  bear  its 
own  losses  and  provide  for  its  own  sufferers.  But, 
whatever  were  the  expectations  at  Paris  or  in  Lon 
don,  all  uncertainty  was  soon  at  an  end.  A  number 
of  Loyalists  who  were  in  England,  came  to  the  United 
States  to  claim  restitution  of  their  estates,  but  their 
applications  were  unheeded,  and  some  of  them  were 
imprisoned,  and  afterwards  banished. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Loyalists  apply  to  Parliament  for  Relief.  The  King  in  his  Speech 
recommends  Attention  to  their  Claims.  Commissioners  appointed. 
Complaints  of  the  Loyalists  on  various  Grounds.  Number  of  Claim 
ants,  and  Schedules  of  their  Losses.  Delay  of  the  Commissioners  in 
adjusting  Claims,  and  Distresses  in  Consequence.  Discussion  in  Parlia 
ment.  Final  Number  of  Claimants,  Final  Amount  of  Schedules,  and 
Final  Award.  In  the  Appeals  to  their  Respective  Governments,  the 
Loyalists,  fared  better  than  the  Whigs. 

THE  claimants  now  applied  to  the  government 
which  they  had  ruined  themselves  to  ".serve  ;  and 
many  of  them,  who  had  hitherto  been  "Kefugees''  in 
different  parts  of  America,  went  to  England  to  state, 
and  to  recover  payment  for,  their  losses.  They  or 
ganized  an  agency,  and  appointed  a  committee,  com 
posed  of  one  delegate  or  agent  from  each  of  the 
thirteen  States,  to  enlighten  the  British  public,  and 
adopt  measures  of  procedure  in  securing  the  atten 
tion  and  action  of  the  ministry  in  their  behalf.  In  a 
tract,1  printed  by  order  of  these  agents,  it  is  main 
tained,  that  "  it  is  an  established  rule,  that  all  sacrifices 
made  by  individuals  for  the  benefit  or  accommodation 
of  others,  shall  be  equally  sustained  by  all  those  who 
partake  of  it ;  "  and  numerous  cases  are  cited  from 
Puffendorf,  Burlamaqui,  and  Yattel,  to  show  that  the 
"  sacrifices "  of  the  Loyalists  were  embraced  in  this 
principle.  As  a  further  ground  of  claim,  it  is  stated, 

1  "•  The  Case  and  Claim  of  the  American  Loyalists,  impartially  stated 
and  considered,"  published  in  1  783. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  105 

that,  in  the  case  of  territory  alienated  or  ceded  awav 
by  one  sovereign  power  to  another,  the  rule  is  still 
applicable;  for  that,  in  treatises  of  international  law. 
it  is  held,  "the  State  ought  to  indemnify  the  subject 
for  the  loss  he  has  sustained  beyond  his  own  propor 
tion."  The  conclusion  arrived  at  from  the  precedents 
found  in  history  and  diplomacy,  and  in  the  statute- 
book  of  the  realm,  is,  that,  as  the  Loyalists  were  as 
"  perfectly  subjects  of  the  British  State  as  any  man 
in  London  or  Middlesex,"  they  \vere  entitled  to  the 
same  protection  and  relief.  The  claimants,  said  the 
writers  of  the  tract,  had  been  "  called  on  by  their 
sovereign,  when  surrounded  by  tumult  and  rebellion, 
to  defend  the  supreme  rights  of  the  nation,  and  to 
assist  in  suppressing  a  rebellion  which  aimed  at  their 
destruction.  They  have  received  from  the  highest 
authority  the  "most  solemn  assurances  of  protection, 
and  even  reward  for  their  meritorious  services  ;"  and 
that  "his  Majesty  and  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament 
having  thought  it  necessary,  as  the  price  of  peace. 
or  to  the  interest  and  safety  of  the  empire,  or 
from  some  other  motive  of  public  convenience,  to 
ratify  the  independence  of  America,  without  securing 
aw i  restitution  whatever  to  the  Loyalists,  they  conceive 
that  the  nation  is  bound,  as  well  by  the  fundament 
al  laws  of  society  as  by  the  invariable  and  eternal 
principles  of  natural  justice,  to  make  them  a  compen 
sation." 

At  the  opening  of  Parliament,  the  king,  in  his 
speech  from  the  throne,  alluded  to  the  "American 
sufferers"  who,  from  "motives  of  loyalty  to  him,  or 
attachment  to  the  mother-country,  had  relinquished 
their  properties  or  professions,"  and  trusted,  he  said, 


106  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

that  '•generous  attention  would  be  shown  to  them." 
Both  parties  assented  to  the  suggestion  ;  and  a  mo 
tion  was  made  early  in  the  session  for  leave  to  bring 
in  a  bill,  "For  appointing  Commissioners  to  inquire 
into  the  Circumstances  and  former  Fortunes  of  such 
Persons  as  are  reduced  to  Distress  by  the  late  un 
happy  Dissensions  in  America."  Leave  was  given  ; 
but  in  fixing  the  details  of  the  bill,  there  was  some 
difficulty  and  considerable  debate.  The  measure  was 
finally  made  agreeable  to  all,  and  was  adopted  with 
out  opposition.  The  act,  as  passed,  created  a  Board 
of  Commissioners,  who  were  empowered  to  examine 
all  persons  presenting  claims  under  oath,  to  send  for 
books,  papers,  and  records  ;  and  who  were  directed 
to  report  all  such  as  fraudulently  claimed  a  greater 
amount  than  they  had  lost,  in  order  that  they  should 
be  deprived  of  all  compensation  whatever. 

The  first  thing  to  be  ascertained  by  the  commis 
sioners  was  the  k(  loyalty  and  conduct  of  the  claim 
ants."  In  their  first  report,  they  divided  them  into 
six  classes,1  and  very  properly  placed  the  apostates 
from  the  Whigs  in  the  last ;  but  no  difference  was 
finally  made  on  account  of  the  time  or  circumstances 
of  adhering  to  the  cause  of  the  Crown,  and  all,  with 
out  reference  to  differences  in  merit,  who  were  able 
to  establish  losses,  shared  alike. 

1  First.  Class.     Those  who  had  rendered  services  to  Great  Britain. 

Second  Class.     Those  who  had  borne  arms  for  Great  Britain. 

Third  Class.     Uniform  Loyalists. 

Fourth  Class.     Loyal  British  subjects  resident  in  Great  Britain. 

Fifth  Class.  Loyalists  who  had  taken  oaths  to  the  American  States,  but 
afterwards  joined  the  British. 

^t.cth  Class.  Loyalists  who  had  borne  arms  for  the  American  States, 
but  afterwards  joined  the  British  navy  or  army. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  107 

The  claimants  were  required  to  state  in  proper 
form  every  species  of  loss  which  they  had  suffered, 
and  for  which  the//  thought  they  had  a  right  to  receive 
compensation.  In  making  up  their  schedules  a<>Tee- 
ably  to  this  rule,  some  sufferers  claimed  for  losses 
which  others  did  not ;  and,  in  adjusting  the  claims, 
the  disproportion  between  the  sum  asked  and  the 
sum  allowed  was  often  very  large.  A  fewr  received 
their  whole  demands,  without  the  deduction  of  a  shil 
ling,  while  others  received  pounds  only  where  they 
had  demanded  hundreds ;  and  a  third  class  obtained 
nothing,  having  been  excluded  by  inability  to  prove 
their  losses,  or  deprived  of  the  sum  which  they  could 
prove,  by  attempts  to  obtain  allowance  for  claims 
which  the  commissioners  reported  upon  as  fraudu 
lent,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  act. 
The  rigid  rules  enforced,  which  it  would  seem  applied 
to  all  claimants,  created  much  murmuring.  The 
mode  pursued  of  examining  the  claimant  and  the  wit 
nesses  in  his  behalf,  separately  and  apart,  was  branded 
with  severe  epithets,  and  the  commission  was  called 
an  "  Inquisition."  With  all  the  caution  which  it  was 
possible  for  the  commissioners  to  exercise,  men  who 
did  not  really  lose  a  single  penny,  who  were  entirely 
destitute  of  property  when  the  war  began,  and  to 
whom  hostilities  were  actually  beneficial  by  affording 
pay  and  employment,  were  placed  in  comfortable  cir 
cumstances  •  and  stories  which  show  the  plans  and 
schemes  that  were  devised  to  bailie  the  rigid  scrutiny 
of  the  board  are  still  repeated. 

The  26th  of  March,  1784,  was  the  latest  period  for 
presenting  claims  which  was  allowed  ;  and  on  or  be 
fore  that  day,  the  number  of  claimants  was  two  thou- 


108  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

sand  and  sixty-three,  and  the  property  alleged  to 
have  been  lost  was,  according  to  their  schedules,  the 
alarming  sum  of  £7,046,278,  besides  debts  to  the 
amount  of  £2,354,135.  The  second  report,  which 
was  made  in  December  of  the  same  year,  shows  that 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  additional  cases  had 
been  disposed  of,  and  that  for  £693,257  claimed,  the 
total  allowance  was  only  £150,935.  Much  the  same 
difference  is  to  be  seen  in  the  succeeding  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-two  cases,  which  were  disposed  of  in 
May  and  July  of  1785,  and  in  which  £253,613  were 
allowed  for  £898,196  claimed.  In  April,  1786,  the 
fifth  report  announced  that  one  hundred  and  forty- 
two  other  claims,  to  the  amount  of  £733,311,  had 
been  liquidated  at  £250,506.  The  commissioners 
proceeded  with  their  investigations  during  the  years 
1786  and  1787.  Meantime,  South  Carolina  had  re 
stored  the  estates  of  several  of  her  Loyalists,  and 
caused  the  withdrawal  of  the  claims  of  their  owners, 
except  that,  in  instances  of  alleged  strip  and  waste, 
amercement,  and  similar  losses,  inquiries  were  insti 
tuted  to  ascertain  the  value  of  what  was  taken,  com 
pared  with  that  which  was  returned. 

On  the  5th  of  April,  1788,  the  commissioners  in 
England  had  heard  and  determined  one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  eighty  claims  (besides  those  withdrawn), 
and  had  liquidated  the  same  at  £1,887,548.  Perhaps 
no  greater  despatch  was  possible,  but  the  delay  caused 
great  complaint.  The  king,  his  ministers,  and  Par 
liament  were  addressed  and  petitioned,  either  on  the 
general  course  pursued  by  the  commissioners,  or  on 
some  subject  connected  with  the  Loyalist  claims. 
Letters  and  communications  appeared  in  the  news- 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  109 

papers,  and  the  public  attention  was  again  awakened 
by  the  publication  of  essays  and  tracts  which  renewed 
the  statements  made  in  1783  of  the  losses,  services, 
and  sacrifices  of  the  claimants.     Two  years  previously 
(1786),  the  agents  of  the  Loyalists  had  invoked  Par 
liament  to  hasten  the  final  action  upon  the  claims  of 
their  constituents  in  a  petition  drawn  up  with  care 
and  ability.    "  It  is  impossible  to  describe,"  are  words 
which  occur  in  this  document,  "  the  poignant  distress 
under  which  many  of  these  persons  now  labor,  and 
which  must  daily  increase,  should  the  justice  of  Par 
liament  be  delayed  until  all  the  claims  are  liquidated 
and  reported  ;   .  .  .  .  ten  years   have  elapsed   since 
many  of  them  have  been  deprived  of  their  fortunes, 
and,  with  their  helpless  families,  reduced  from  inde 
pendent  affluence  to  poverty  and  want ;  some  of  them 
now  languishing  in  British  jails,  others  indebted  to 
their  creditors,  who  have  lent  them  money  barely  to 
support  their  existence,  and  who,  unless  speedily  re 
lieved,  must  sink  more  than  the  value  of  their  claims 
when  received,  and  be  in  a  worse  condition  than  if 
they   had  never   made    them ;    others  have   already 
sunk  under  the  pressure  and  severity  of  their  misfor 
tunes  ;  and  others  must,  in  all  probability,  soon  meet 
the  same  melancholy  fate,  should  the  justice  due  to 
them  be  longer  postponed.     But  that,  on  the  contra 
ry,  should  provision  be  now  made  for  payment  of 
those  whose  claims  have  been  settled  "and  reported,  it 
will  not  only   relieve  them  from  their  distress,  but 
give  a  credit  to  the  others  whose  claims  remain  to  be 
considered,  and   enable   all  of  them   to  provide   for 
their  wretched   families,    and   become    again    useful 
members  of  society."     This  vivid  picture  of  the  con- 

VOL.  I.  10 


110  HISTOPJCAL    ESSAY. 

dition  of  those  who  waited  the  tardy  progress  made 
in  the  final  adjustment  of  their  losses  is  possibly 
highly  colored.  Mr.  Pitt  had  introduced  and  carried 
through,  in  1785,  a  bill  for  the  distribution  of  £150,- 
000  among  the  claimants ;  but  as  that  sum,  it  was 
held,  was  to  be  applied  to  a  distinct  class,  —  namely, 
to  those  who  had  lost  "  property,"  and  to  neither  those 
who  had  lost  "  life-estate "  in  property,  nor  to  those 
who  had  lost  "  income,"  —  it  is  not  improbable  that 
many  of  these  classes  were  at  this  time  greatly  in 
want  of  the  relief  which  their  agents  so  earnestly 
implored  the  government  to  aiford. 

A  tract1  printed  in  1788,  which  was  attributed  to 
Galloway,  a  Loyalist  of  Pennsylvania,  presses  the 
claims  and  merits  of  the  sufferers  with  much  point 
and  vigor,  and  rebukes  the  injustice  of  neglecting 
and  deferring  payment  of  the  compensation  con 
ceded  on  all  hands  to  be  due  them,  with  singular 
spirit  and  boldness,  and  states  their  situation  in  the 
following  forcible  language :  "  It  is  well  known," 
says  the  writer,  "  that  this  delay  of  justice  has  pro 
duced  the  most  melancholy  and  shocking  events.  A 
number  of  the  sufferers  have  been  driven  by  it  into 
insanity,  and  become  their  own  destroyers,  leaving 
behind  them  their  helpless  widows  and  orphans  to 
subsist  upon  the  cold  charity  of  strangers.  Others 
have  been  sent  to  cultivate  a  wilderness  for  their 
subsistence,  without  having  the  means,  and  compelled 
through  want  to  throw  themselves  on  the  mercy  of 
the  American  States  and  the  charity  of  their  former 
friends,  to  support  the  life  which  might  have  been 

1  "  The  Claim  of  the  American  Loyalist  reviewed  and  maintained  upon 
incontrovertible  Principles  of  Law  and  Justice." 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  Ill 

made  comfortable  by  the  money  long  since  due  from 
the  British  Government ;  and  many  others,  with 
their  families,  are  barely  subsisting  upon  a  temporary 
allowance  from  government,, —  a  mere  pittance  when 
compared  with  the  sum  due  to  them." 

The  commissioners  submitted  their  eleventh  Report 
in  April  of  the  year  in  which  this  statement  was 
made  ;  and  Mr.  Pitt,  in  the  month  following,  gave 
way  to  the  pressing  importunities  of  the  claimants, 
to  allow  their  grievances  to  be  discussed  in  Parlia 
ment.  Twelve  years  had  elapsed  since  the  property 
of  most  of  them  had  been  alienated  under  the  con 
fiscation  acts,  and  five,  since  their  title  to  recompense 
had  been  recognized  by  the  law  under  which  their 
claims  had  been  presented. 

The  minister,  meantime,  by  frequent  conferences 
with  the  commissioners,  had  made  himself  familiar 
with  all  the  points  involved  and  requiring  considera 
tion,  and,  in  expressing  his  views,  raised  three  ques 
tions  :  first,  whether  there  should  be  any  deduction 
made  from  the  value  put  upon  the  estates  to  be  paid 
for  ;  secondly,  if  any,  what  the  deduction  should  he  ; 
and,  thirdly,  what  compensation  should  be  made  to 
the  Loyalists  who  had  lost  their  incomes  by  losing 
their  offices  and  professions.  In  his  speech,  Mr.  Pitt 
laid  down  as  the  basis  of  his  plan,  that,  however 
strong  might  be  the  claims  of  either  class,  neither 
should  regard  the  relief  to  be  extended  as  due  on 
principles  "  of  right  and  strict  justice."  In  proceed 
ing  with  his  remarks,  he  proposed  to  pay  all  of  six 
designated  classes,  who  consisted  of  thirteen  hundred 
and  sixty-four  persons,  whose  liquidated  losses  did 
not  exceed  ten  thousand  pounds  each,  the  full  amount 


112  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

reported  by  the  commissioners ;  while,  increasing  the 
rate  of  discount  with  the  increase  of  losses,  he  pro 
posed  a  deduction  of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  losses  (of 
persons  of  these  six  classes)  between  ten  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  pounds,  and  of  fifteen  per  cent,  on 
those  between  thirty-five  and  fifty  thousand,  and  of 
twenty  per  cent,  on  those  exceeding  fifty  thousand  ; 
casting,  however,  these  several  rates  of  deduction 
only  on  the  differences  between  ten  thousand  pounds 
and  the  amounts  lost  as  reported  by  the  commission 
ers.1  With  regard  to  persons  of  another  description, 
whose  losses  had  been  caused  principally,  if  not 
entirely,  by  deprivation  of  official  or  professional  in 
come,  he  submitted  a  plan  of  pensions.2 

After  this  adjustment,  several  additional  claims 
were  presented,  examined,  and  allowed  ;  and,  upon 
the  settlement  of  the  whole  matter,  it  appeared  that 
the  number  of  claimants  in  England,  Nova  Scotia. 
New  Brunswick,  and  Canada,  was  five  thousand  and 
seventy-two,  of  whom  nine  hundred  and  fifty-four 
withdrew  or  failed  to  prosecute  their  claims  ;  that  the 
amount  of  losses,  according  to  the  schedules  rendered, 
was  £8,026,045,  of  which  the  sum  of  £3,292,452  was 
allowed.3  The  Loyalists,  then,  were  well  cared  for. 

1  This  plan  was  objected  to  by  the  Loyalists,  and  their  reasons  were 
transmitted  to  Mr.  Pitt,  in  a  document  of  some  length. 

2  The  number  of  these  persons  was  two  hundred  and  four;  amount  of 
income  lost,  £80,000  ;  pensions  granted,  £25,785. 

3  The  principal  facts  with  regard  to  the  compensation  of  the   Loyalists 
arc  derived  from  a  "  Historical  View  of  the  Commission,"  £c.,  by  John 
Eardley  Wilmot,  Esq.,  one  of  the  commissioners.    In  the  aggregate  amount 
claimed,  there  seems  some  discrepancy.     According  to  the  summary  of  Mr. 
Wilmot,  made  in  March,  1  790,  "  the  claims  preferred  "  were  £10,358,413  ; 
whereas,  in  a  table  from  which  I  take  the  statistics  above,  the  amount  is 
stated  at  £8,026,045.     Again,  in  March,  1790,  it  is  said  by  Mr.  Wilmot, 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  113 

Whatever  were  the  miseries  to  individuals  occasioned 
hy  delay  ;  whatever  the  injury  sustained  by  those 
who  were  unable  to  procure  sufficient  evidence  of 
their  losses  ;  and  whatever  were  the  wrongs  inflicted 
upon  others  by  the  errors  in  judgment  on  the  part 
of  the  commissioners,  the  Americans  who  took  the 
royal  side,  as  a  body,  fared  infinitely  better  than  the 
great  body  of  the  Whigs,  whose  services  and  sacrifices 
were  quite  as  great;  for,  besides  the  allowance  of 
fifteen  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  in  money,  num 
bers  received  considerable  annuities,  half-pay  as  mili 
tary  officers,  large  grants  of  land,  and  shared  with 
other  subjects  in  the  patronage  of  the  Crown. 

that  the  number  of  "  claims  preferred  in  England  and  Nova  Scotia  was 
three  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five,  of  which  were  examined  two 
thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-one,  disallowed  three  hundred  and  forty- 
two,  withdrawn  thirty-eight,  not  prosecuted  five  hundred  and  fifty-three  ;  " 
that  the  amount  of  claims  allowed  was  £3,033,091  ;  whereas,  in  the  table 
which  I  have  followed  as  giving  a  later  and  final  view,  the  claims  examined 
are  stated  at  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighteen,  and  the  amount 
allowed  at  the  sum  in  the  text ;  from  which  it  follows,  that  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twenty-seven  persons  recovered  only  the  difference 
between  £3,292,455  and  £3,033,91,  or  the  small  sum  of  £259,364. 


10* 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

The  Banished  Loyalists  and  their  Descendants.  Progress  of  Whig  Princi 
ples  in  the  Canadas,  in  New  Brunswick,  and  Nova  Scotia.  The  whole 
System  of  Monopoly  on  which  the  Colonial  System  was  founded  and 
maintained,  surrendered.  The  Colonists  now  manufacture  what  they 
will,  buv  where  they  please,  and  sell  where  they  can.  England  her 
self  has  pronounced  the  Vindication  of  the  Whigs.  The  Heir  to  the 
British  Throne  at  Mount  Yernon  and  Bunker  Hill.  The  Colonists 
claim  to  hold  the  highest  Places  in  the  Government,  in  the  Army,  and 
in  the  Navy.  Effects  of  the  Change  of  Policy.  The  Children  of  the 
Whirls  and  of  the  Loyalists,  reconciled. 

WE  are  now  to  discuss  the  political  changes  in  the 
Colonies  to  which  the  banishment  and  confiscation 
acts  during  the  war.  and  the  hostile  feeling  at  the 
peace,  compelled  large  bodies  of  Loyalists  to  retire. 
When,  in  1821,  in  ignorance  and  poverty,  I  went  to 
the  eastern  frontier,  I  saw  in  wonder  that,  across  the 
border,  natives  of  Massachusetts  and  graduates  of  her 
ancient  university,  with  exiles  from  other  States,  had 
reestablished  the  Colonial  system  of  government  with 
hardly  a  modification  ;  and,  young  as  I  was,  well  did 
I  mark  the  administration  of  affairs.  Indeed,  as  I 
read  and  inquired,  I  almost  imagined  that  I  was 
actually  living  in  ante-revolutionary  times.  For  some 
years,  no  political  changes  of  moment  occurred  :  but, 
in  the  course  of  events,  important  concessions  were 
demanded ;  and,  finally,  the  whole  system  of  monop 
oly  on  which  the  system  is  founded,  was  abandoned, 
as  I  purpose  to  relate  so  fully  as  my  limits  will  allow. 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  115 

In  1783,  the  French  at  Quebec  and  Montreal,  and 
the  English  at  Halifax,  were  few  in  numbers,  and 
generally  poor  and  ignorant ;  while  the  countries 
now  called  Canada  West  and  New  Brunswick,  were 
almost  unbroken  forests. 

Canada  claims  our  first  attention.  As  was  predicted 
by  wise  statesmen  in  1763,  the  French  possessions 
then  acquired  have  caused  England  great  disquiet 
and  immense  expenditures.  After  the  conquest,  and 
before  the  cession  by  treaty,  an  exciting  discussion 
arose,  whether,  as  the  ministry  had  the  option  be 
tween  Canada  and  Guadaloupe,  they  should  not  restore 
to  France  the  former,  and  retain  the  latter.  The  fear 
was,  that,  if  Canada  were  kept,  the  thirteen  Colonies, 
rid  of  all  apprehensions  from  the  French,  would  in 
crease  too  rapidly,  and,  in  the  end,  throw  off  their 
dependence  on  the  mother  country.  This  view  was 
supported  in  a  tract  supposed  to  be  from  the  pen  of 
one  of  the  Burkes  ;  and  was  answered  by  Franklin, 
in  his  happiest  and  ablest  manner.  The  ministry, 
having  resolved  to  keep  Canada,  organized  a  military 
government ;  and  the  king,  by  proclamation,  an 
nounced  his  intention  of  granting,  as  soon  as  circum 
stances  would  permit,  a  legislative  assembly.  That 
this  promise  was  not  redeemed  for  twenty-eight  years 
was  an  error  in  policy,  and  a  breach  of  royal  faith. 
For  a  time,  officers  of  the  army  were  both  governors 
and  judges.  Abuses,  at  last,  became  so  serious  as  to 
attract  the  notice  of  the  Crown.  The  change  which 
followed  gave  much  offence  to  the  Whigs  of  the 
thirteen  Colonies,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence. 

In  1791,  Mr.  Pitt,  in  opposition  to  Fox  and  other 


116  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

British  Whigs,  carried  through  Parliament  a  bill  which 
divided  Canada  into  two  provinces,  and  which  pro 
vided  for  a  better  administration  of  affairs  than  had 
ever  existed.  It  was  in  the  debate  on  this  measure, 
that  Burke  and  Fox  severed  the  ties  which  had 
bound  them  together  for  a  long  period. 

Tolerable  harmony  prevailed  in  Canada  for  a  num 
ber  of  years.  The  first  dispute  of  consequence  im 
mediately  preceded  the  war  of  1812 ;  when  the 
Assembly  demanded  that  the  judges  should  vacate 
their  seats  as  legislators,  and  confine  themselves  to 
their  judicial  duties.  A  sharp  contest  followed.  The 
Governor  dissolved  the  Assembly;  but  his  conduct 
was  not  approved  in  England,  and  he  was  removed. 
The  appointment  of  the  popular  Sir  George  Prevost, 
and  the  war  with  the  United  States,  hushed  for  awhile 
the  clamors  of  the  discontented.  At  the  peace,  how 
ever,  when  Prevost  relinquished  the  executive  chair 
to  Sir  George  Gordon  Drummond,  a  second  quarrel 
arose  between  the  judges  and  a  new  House  of  Assem 
bly  ;  and  two  occupants  of  the  bench  were  impeached. 
Drummond  was  succeeded  by  the  excellent  Sir  John 
C.  Sherbroke,  under  w-hose  rule  there  wras  a  period  of 
quiet.  On  his  retirement,  his  successor,  the  Duke  of 
Richmond,  abandoned  the  practice  of  submitting  to 
the  Assembly  an  estimate  in  detail  of  the  sums  of 
money  required  for  each  branch  of  the  public  service ; 
and  thus  added  another  element  of  discord.  The  As 
sembly  refused  to  comply  with  the  Duke's  wishes, 
and  a  long  and  angry  controversy  followed.  His 
Grace  died  of  hydrophobia ;  and  the  dispute  wras  re 
newed  by  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  who  was  appointed 
governor-general  in  his  place. 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  117 

This  rapid  narrative  brings  ns  to  the  year  1820, 
and  to  the  first  organized  party  in  opposition  to  the 
established  order  of  things.  The  Assembly,  moderate 
in  their  earliest  demands,  —  and  for  three  or  four 
years,  —  merely  contested  the  right  of  the  servants 
of  the  Crown  to  designate  the  manner  of  expending 
certain  of  the  Colonial  revenues  ;  and,  in  justification, 
complained  of  previous  misapplication  of  the  public 
money.  In  1825,  during  the  temporary  absence  of 
Lord  Dalhousie,  Sir  Francis  Burton,  who  administered 
the  government  in  the  exigency,  made  such  large 
concessions  as  to  induce  the  Assembly  to  assume  a 
bolder  position,  and  to  claim  the  control  of  the  irliolc 
of  the  Colonial  revenues,  as  well  as  to  designate  the 
objects  to  which  they  should  be  applied.  This  mas 
terly  movement  for  the  entire  fiscal  power  excited 
an  interest  in  Canadian  politics  never  before  man 
ifested,  and  afforded  cause  of  serious  alarm  in  Eng 
land.  The  Assembly  persisted  ;  and,  after  a  discus 
sion  of  two  years,  the  ministry  proposed  to  surrender 
the  management  of  the  revenues  on  the  condition, 
that  what  is  termed  the  "  Civil  List "  should  be  paid 
out  of  them.  And  the  matter  would  have  been 
adjusted  on  this  basis,  probably,  but  for  the  act  of 
Lord  Dalhousie,  in  disapproving  and  setting  aside  the 
election  of  Mr.  Papineau  to  the  Speaker's  chair  of 
the  Assembly.  The  popularity  of  that  gentleman  in 
his  own  party  was  almost  unbounded.  The  '•'  Liber 
als,"  as  his  friends  were  called  —  the  Liberals,  enraged 
beyond  what  such  a  circumstance  warranted,  gave 
vent  to  their  feelings  in  the  most  exciting  appeals 
to  the  people  ;  and  Dalhousie's  administration  closed 
amid  denunciations  and  imprecations. 


118  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

Sir  James  Kempt  undertook  the  difficult  duty  of 
hushing  the  storm  in  1828 ;  and,  to  this  end,  he  in 
vited  Papineau  and  another  leader  of  the  Liberals  to 
take  seats  in  his  cabinet ;  and  he  gave  assurances  that 
the  graver  differences  should  be  disposed  of  at  the 
meeting  of  Parliament-  This  promise,  in  consequence 
of  the  death  of  George  the  Fourth,  was  not  fulfilled. 
But  Lord  Ayhnar,  on  succeeding  to  Sir  James's  place, 
renewed  the  pledge ;  and,  as  the  Liberals  affirmed, 
without  conditions.  However  this  may  be,  when  he 
came  to  make  known  the  precise  concessions  of  the 
ministry,  the  quarrel  which  apparently  had  come  to 
a  termination,  was  opened  anew  and  with  increased 
violence.  The  Assembly,  strong  now  in  popular 
favor,  assumed  the  most  determined  attitude  and 
refused  every  overture.  At  last,  in  1831,  the  min 
istry  yielded  the  essential  points  in  dispute,  and  the 
considerate  among  the  Colonists  hoped  for  a  cessa 
tion  of  strife.  But,  though  the  home  government 
conceded  much,  Lord  Aylmar  was  still  instructed  to 
ask  for  special  appropriations  of  money.  This  pro 
duced  new  difficulties.  The  result  was,  that  the 
breach  between  the  Assembly  and  the  servants  of 
the  Crown  became  as  wide  as  ever  before.  Encour 
aged  by  the  advantages  they  had  obtained  in  this 
long  and  wearisome  dispute  about  the  revenues,  the 
Liberals  now  commenced  an  attack  upon  the  Legis 
lative  Council.  This  body,  in  its  powers,  is  much 
like  the  senate  with  us ;  but  its  members  held  their 
places  at  the  royal  pleasure,  and  for  life.  Several  of 
the  incumbents,  for  reasons  which  I  have  not  time 
to  state,  had  become  extremely  obnoxious.  The 
Assembly  demanded,  not  the  removal  of  the  offen- 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  119 

sivc  members,  but  the  abolition  of  the  Council  itself, 
and  its  reconstruction  on  an  elective  basis.  To  this 
demand,  the  ministry  gave  a  flat  refusal.  As  mon 
archists  reason,  well  they  might  refuse  ;  since,  to 
have  surrendered  the  Council  to  the  popular  party, 
was  to  lose  all  check  upon  it,  and  to  reduce  the 
power  and  authority  of  the  Crown  to  a  mere  shadow. 

The  Assembly,  on  this  rebuff,  seemed  to  lose  all 
sense  of  official  propriety.  In  hot  haste,  the  Liberals 
prepared  a  long  list  of  new  and  enormous  wrongs ; 
they  declared  many  old  ones  to  be  insufferable ;  they 
rejected  the  bill  granting  money  to  support  the  gov 
ernment  ;  they  severely  censured  Lord  Aylmar,  and 
insisted  upon  his  removal;  and,  in  the  most  deter 
mined  tone,  renewed  the  demand  for  an  elective 
Council.  Among  the  people  the  excitement  was  in 
tense.  Affairs,  indeed,  had  come  to  a  crisis.  In  nine 
sessions  of  the  Canadian  Parliament,  immediately 
preceding,  the  deeply-hated  Legislative  Council  had 
rejected  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  of 
the  bills  passed  by  the  Assembly,  and  had  so  amended 
forty-seven  others,  that  the  latter  body  had  refused 
concurrence.  In  a  word,  legislation  was  at  an  end. 
The  reconstruction  of  the  Council  was  the  fixed  pur 
pose  on  one  side ;  the  Council,  without  change,  was 
the  determined  resolution  on  the  other. 

Such  was  the  general  condition  of  things  in  Canada, 
when,  on  a  change  of  administration  in  England,  Sir 
Robert  Peel  became  Prime  Minister  in  place  of  Lord 
Melbourne.  To  redress  every  real  wrong,  to  send 
over  a  commissioner  with  ample  powers  to  examine 
and  decide  upon  the  complaints  which  had  been  so 
pertinaciously  urged,  year  after  year,  was  the  prompt 


120  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

resolve  of  Sir  Robert;  but,  before  he  could  execute 
his  plan,  another  change  occurred  which  restored 
Lord  Melbourne  to  power.  And  yet,  Lord  Aylmar 
was  recalled,  and  Lord  Gosford  was  appointed  both 
governor  and  commissioner.  This  mission  was  an 
utter  failure.  The  year  1836  is  memorable  in  Cana 
dian  politics.  Lord  Gosford  was  disgraced.  The  As 
sembly  manifested  desire  for  an  appeal  to  arms,  as 
the  only  remaining  means  to  accomplish  their  long- 
cherished  schemes.  For  the  first  time,  the  two  great 
parties  in  England  were  brought  to  consider  that  the 
interposition  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  was  indis 
pensable  to  the  peace  and  integrity  of  the  British 
empire ;  for,  at  this  time,  disaffection  had  spread,  as 
we  shall  see,  to  other  Colonies. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  Lower  and  Upper 
Canada  were  not,  as  now,  united,  and  that  my  re 
marks,  thus  far,  relate  entirely  to  the  former.  We 
pass  to  speak  of  the  course  of  events  in  the  latter, 
which,  since  the  union,  is  known  as  Canada  West. 
On  the  election  of  a  new  Assembly  in  1834,  the  Lib 
erals  achieved  a  triumph  over  the  Conservatives, 
and,  elated  with  their  success,  they  assumed,  as  it 
were  in  a  moment,  the  extreme  pretensions  which 
had  been  slowly  matured,  in  the  dissensions  of  fifteen 
years,  in  the  sister  Colony. 

There  was  no  department  of  the  government  which 
they  did  not  assail;  no  public  servant  whom  they  did 
not  accuse.  Their  wish  to  secede  from  England  was 
hardly  denied  or  concealed  under  a  decent  veil.  In 
fine,  to  pass  from  a  state  of  ordinary  quiet  to  loud 
murmurs  and  open  rebellion,  was  scarcely  the  work 
of  a  single  year.  In  the  hope  of  allaying  the  excite- 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  121 

nient,  the  ministry  recalled  Sir  John  Colburn,  and 
appointed  Sir  Francis  Bond  Head  governor  in  his 
stead.  Never,  in  politics,  was  there  a  greater  blun 
der.  Sir  Francis,  whatever  his  merits  as  a  writer  or 
a  soldier,  was  a  mere  child  among  politicians.  He 
himself  thought  so ;  and  others  said  that  his  appoint 
ment  was  a  ministerial  joke.  The  juncture  required 
the  wisdom  of  the  wisest  of  England's  many  wise 
statesmen;  and  her  ministers  were  inexcusably  remiss 
in  refusing  to  see  that  it  was  so.  Indications  that 
the  royal  authority  would  soon  be  disputed  in  the 
field,  were  too  manifest  to  be  mistaken.  Yet  the  mil 
itary  force  of  the  Crown  was  tardily  increased.  At 
last,  but  too  late,  the  ministry  appealed  to  Parliament, 
irrespective  of  party  distinctions,  for  the  calm  judg 
ment  and  the  united  ability  of  that  body.  The  death 
of  King  William  quickly  followed.  To  involve  the 
Illustrious  Lady  who  now  occupies  the  throne,  in  a 
conflict  with  her  subjects,  at  the  beginning  of  her 
reign,  wras  a  measure  which  ministers  and  nobles  and 
commoners  might  well  wish  to  avoid ;  and,  in  the  ir 
resolution  of  the  moment,  the  Canadas  defied  her,  and 
met  her  troops  in  deadly  combat.  The  last  months 
of  1837,  and  the  opening  of  1838,  were  crowded  with 
deeds  of  violence  and  blood.  I  recall,  in  sadness, 
the  attempt  to  seize  upon  Toronto,  the  capital  of 
Upper  Canada,  the  battles  of  St.  Denis,  of  St.  Charles, 
and  of  Bois  Blanc.  These,  and  other  hostile  affairs, 
exposed  the  weakness  of  the  Liberals  as  a  revolution 
ary  party ;  disclosed  that  they  had  no  hold  on  the 
hearts  of  the  masses ;  disclosed  that  they  had  ven 
tured  into  open  war  with  a  mighty  empire  without 
resources ;  disclosed  how  miserably  deficient  they 

VOL.    I.  11 


122  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

were  in  military  talents,  and  how  slight  was  the  con 
fidence  of  their  leaders  in  one  another.  And  so,  too, 
I  recall  in  horror  the  butcheries  at  St.  Eustache,  as 
affording  melancholy  proof  of  what,  indeed,  human 
history  is  full  of —  that,  when  brother  fights  brother, 
no  outrage,  no  wickedness,  is  too  great ;  since  there, 
men  were  needlessly  maimed  and  slain ;  weeping, 
famishing  women  were  driven  out  to  perish,  and 
were  plundered  and  murdered;  since  there,  the  dead 
were  mangled,  and  suffered  to  lie  unburied,  and  to  be 
eaten  by  dogs.  These,  and  other  deeds  as  awful  as 
these,  but  of  which  I  shall  make  no  mention,  shocked 
the  civilization  of  the  age. 

The  subsequent  efforts  of  the  leaders  of  the  Liber 
als  to  form  a  provisional  government  at  Navy  Island, 
where  they  concentrated  their  scattered  followers, 
drew  down  upon  them  universal  contempt.  They 
strove  to  inspire  the  deceived,  shivering,  and  starving 
creatures  around  them  with  the  belief  that  citizens 
of  the  United  States  would  flock  to  their  standard, 
and  enable  them  to  retrieve  their  fortunes.  But, 
deluded  from  first  to  last ;  incessantly  quarrelling 
among  themselves ;  and  showing  to  the  wrorld,  in 
the  columns  of  the  newspapers,  the  meanness  of  their 
personal  disputes ;  the  movement,  which,  in  their  in 
fatuation  they  designed  for  a  revolution,  and  for  an 
imposing  page  in  American  annals,  terminated  in  a 
disgraceful  insurrection.  In  their  appeals  to  the  pop 
ular  ear,  previous  to  the  outbreak,  they  had  likened 
their  situation,  and  the  objects  for  which  they  con 
tended,  to  those  of  our  fathers,  —  the  Whigs  of  1776  ; 
but  they  were  answered,  and  truly,  that  several  of 
the  graver  disabilities  which  restrained  and  oppressed 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  123 

the  thirteen  Colonies,  had  been  removed.  So,  too. 
they  had  adopted  the  general  sentiments  of  our  Dec 
laration  of  Independence,  and  incorporated  a  large 
portion  of  it  into  their  Manifesto  of  Wrongs. 

For  reasons  which  will  appear  anon,  I  was  a  calm 
and  interested  observer ;  and  the  opinion  which  I 
then  formed,  I  repeat  after  the  lapse  of  twenty  years. 
I  need  not  to  be  told,  that  of  the  fallen,  we  should 
always  speak  in  pity,  and  of  the  guilty,  in  mercy. 
But,  we  are  not  to  repress  our  indignation,  when,  as 
in  the  case  before  us,  men  of  talents  and  education, 
of  political  knowledge  and  experience,  skulk  away, 
and  leave  their  dupes  to  die  on  the  scaffold,  or  to 
pine  and  perish  in  prison.  Such  men,  —  the  men  who 
slip  the  halter  for  themselves,  but  fasten  it  round  the 
necks  of  the  ignorant  and  the  lowly,  —  should  stand 
accursed. 

At  the  suppression  of  the  insurrection,  Canada  was 
in  a  deplorable  condition,  as  the  imagination  can  well 
picture.  It  often  happens  in  human  affairs,  that  the 
mischief  all  done,  and  the  mischief  all  exposed,  a 
remedy  is  thought  of  and  applied.  It  was  so  then. 
Civil  war  produced,  with  all  its  miseries,  needy  or 
second  and  third  rate  knights,  and  baronets  and 
barons  were  no  longer  sent  to  govern,  or  rather  to 
mis-govern,  the  people  of  Canada.  Lord  Durham,  a 
statesman  of  acknowledged  wisdom,  moderation,  and 
ability,  was  solicited  to  undertake  the  task  of  healing 
the  disorders  which  other  persons  of  rank  had  helped 
to  increase,  and  which,  had  he  been  employed  at  the 
outset,  could,  and  would  have  been  prevented.  His 
powers  as  ambassador  were  as  great  as  were  ever 
conferred  on  a  British  subject,  The  Colonial  gentle- 


124  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

men  with  whom  I  constantly  mingled,  hailed  his  com 
ing,  much  as  they  would  have  done  the  advent  of  an 
angel.  His  keen  vision  surveyed  all  Canada  at  a 
glance.  Plans  for  bold  and  comprehensive  reforms, 
were  formed  with  the  rapidity  of  intuition.  His  heart 
was  in  the  work,  and  he  labored  incessantly.  As 
Washington  had  been  the  saviour  of  the  thirteen  Col 
onies,  so  he  proudly  thought  to  become  the  saviour 
of  the  domains  which  England  conquered  from  France, 
and  which,  strangely  enough,  are  all  the  continental 
possessions  that  remain  to  her  in  this  hemisphere. 

Alas,  that  Lord  Durham  should  have  been  arrested 
in  his  glorious  career.  But  in  politics,  the  idol  of  to 
day  is  the  martyr  of  the  morrow,  if  he  recognize  the 
doctrines  of  human  brotherhood  rather  than  the  dic 
tations  of  his  party. 

His  Lordship  found  the  prisons  full .  of  persons 
charged  with  participation  in  the  insurrection,  and 
with  crimes  against  persons  and  property.  The  clam 
ors  for  the  life  of  the  leaders  were  awful.  But  there 
had  been  enough  of  death,  —  he  nobly  said, —  enough 
of  widowhood  and  orphanage ;  and  so,  true  to  his  na 
ture,  he  resolved  to  save  and  to  spare.  In  the  intense 
excitement  which  prevailed,  he  feared  that  justice 
would  not  be  clone  by  juries,  and,  in  pure  mercy  to 
the  ruined  and  the  fallen,  he  banished  to  the  Ber 
mudas  several  of  the  insurgents  who  made  written 
confession  of  guilt,  as  the  best  means  of  allaying 
animosities,  and  of  preventing  further  communication 
between  the  leading  spirits  who  had  been  arrested, 
and  those  who  were  still  at  large.  Unfortunately  for 
himself,  his  course  was  technically  wrong,  for  the 
Bermudas  were  not  within  his  jurisdiction  ;  and,  ac- 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  125 

cording  to  the  letter  of  criminal  law,  a  British  .sub 
ject  cannot  be  deprived  of  his  liberty,  without  the 
finding  of  a  jury  and  the  sentence  of  a  judge.  The 
decree  of  banishment  was  accordingly  disapproved  ; 
and  Lord  Durham  abandoned  his  mission  at  once, 
and  returned  to  England  without  leave  of  the  queen 
or  her  ministers. 

He  was  proud  and  sensitive ;  and  the  proud  and 
sensitive  will  not  brook  dishonorable  imputation. 
That  he  erred,  may  be  admitted.  With  some  of  his 
peers,  his  high  character,  his  motives  in  this  partic 
ular  case,  were  of  no  avail.  In  a  word,  his  foes  pur 
sued  him  much  as  the  famished  wolf  follows  a  lone, 
lost  child  in  the  forest  —  to  lap  blood,  drop  by  drop. 
The  vulgar  of  our  race  murder  with  the  knife  and 
with  the  club ;  the  gentlemen,  to  gain  in  politics,  de 
stroy  with  the  tongue,  with  the  pen,  and  with  the  press. 

Lord  Durham  did  not  long  survive  his  disgrace. 
He  lived  long  enough,  however,  to  complete  for  pos 
terity  an  elaborate  report  of  what  he  did,  of  what  he 
intended  to  do,  and  of  what  should  be  done,  in  Brit 
ish  America,  This  document,  in  the  passion  of  the 
hour,  was  reviewed  in  Parliament  and  elsewhere  with 
merciless  severity.  I  quote  a  single  instance.  In 
1839,  the  "  London  Quarterly,"  in  a  notice  of  it,  said, 
in  concluding  some  very  pungent  remarks :  "  We  can 
venture  to  answer,  that  every  uncontradicted  assertion  of 
that  volume  will  be  made  the  excuse  of  future  rebellions,  — 
every  unquestioned  principle  will  be  hereafter  perverted  into 
a  gospel  of  treason  ;  and  that,  if  that  rank  and  infectious 
Report  does  not  receive  the  hujh,  marked,  and  energetic  dis 
countenance  and  indignation  of  the  imperial  crown  and  par 
liament,  British  America  is  lost!' 
11  * 


126  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

But  this  Report,  so  filled  with  treasons,  so  sure  to 
dismember  the  British  empire  a  second  time,  in  the 
apprehension  of  those  who  denounced  it,  is  already 
considered  a  masterly  State  paper;  and,  curious  to 
add,  its  recommendations  have  been  adopted  in  almost  ever?/ 
essential  particular. 

The  insurrection  in  Canada  involved  the  United 
States.  That  some  of  our  citizens  were  concerned  in 
it,  is  beyond  question ;  the  burning  of  the  American 
steamer  Caroline  by  officers  of  the  Crown ;  the  seiz 
ure  and  trial  of  McLeod,  the  principal  actor  in  the 
affair ;  the  avowal  of  the  British  ministry  that  they 
justified  him.  with  their  demand  on  the  Federal  gov 
ernment  for  his  release ;  these,  and  other  circum 
stances,  formed  a  complication  of  difficulties,  which 
caused  the  wisest  to  ponder.  At  this  juncture,  the 
peace  of  the  country  depended  on  the  grand  and 
massive  man  who  now  rests  at  Marshfield.  It  was 
easy  for  party  men  who  were  secure  in  their  homes 
to  call  upon  him.  for  party  purposes,  to  quit  the  De 
partment  of  State ;  but  we,1  who  lived  upon  the  bor 
der,  who  daily  saw  the  elements  of  strife  gaming 
strength,  and  who  were  exposed  to  the  marauder's 
bludgeon  and  the  marauder's  torch  ;  we  watched  his 
movements  with  intense  interest,  and  when  we  found 
that  he  would  not  be  driven  from  his  post,  we  blessed 
him. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  the  course  of  events  in 
Canada  further.  Lord  Durham's  mission,  in  its  re 
sults,  terminated  the  strifes. 

We  pass  to  New  Brunswick.     The  original  popu- 

1  My  home  was  still  at  p]astport,  Maine. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY?"'  127 

lation  of  this  Colony  was  composed  almost  entirely 
of  the  Loyalists  of  the  Revolution.  It  was  set  off 
from  Nova  Scotia  in  1784,  without  pressing  necessity, 
except  to  provide  for  these  unhappy  victims  to  civil 
war.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  first  ap 
pointed  were  natives  of  Massachusetts,  and  graduates 
of  Harvard  University.  The  secretary  of  the  prov 
ince  was  an  Episcopal  minister  of  New  Jersey,  who 
was  in  communication  with  Arnold  while  he  was 
plotting  treason.  The  judges  of  the  inferior  courts, 
the  sheriffs,  collectors  of  the  customs,  and  other  func 
tionaries,  were  also  our  banished  countrymen  ;  and 
most  of  them  were  born  in  New  England  and  the 
Middle  States.  Thus  the  offices  were  given  to  Loy 
alist  families,  and  descended  from  father  to  son. 

The  first  political  agitation  of  moment  in  New 
Brunswick  was,  1  think,  in  1837,  when  Sir  Archibald 
Campbell, — who  had  served  his  king  as  a  soldier  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  world,  —  was  compelled  to 
retire,  upon  address  of  the  House  of  Assembly  for 
his  removal  from  the  executive  chair.  Sir  John 
Harvey  was  his  successor.  He,  too,  was  a  military 
officer  of  much  merit.  He  had  warm  friends  and 
bitter  foes.  His  career  was  even  more  stormy  than 
that  of  his  predecessor ;  but  he  cared  little  for  angry 
newspapers  and  angry  politicians.  The  American 
people  on  the  eastern  frontier  have  reason  to  re 
member  his  course  when  the  controversy  relative 
to  the  North-Eastern  Boundary  had  reached  a  point 
to  threaten  hostilities.  Congress  had  conditionally 
placed  millions  of  money  and  a  large  army  at  the 
disposal  of  the  President  ;  and  Maine,  to  defend  the 
territory  in  dispute,  had  authorized  a  loan,  raised 


128  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

troops  and  established  garrisons.  The  roads  in  one 
section  of  the  State  were  filled  miles  together  with 
sleds  loaded  with  soldiers  and  the  munitions  of  war. 
British  regulars  were  moving  in  every  direction,  and 
a  British  frigate,  with  a  regiment  detached  from 
Bermuda,  lay  anchored  within  a  mile  of  my  own 
home.  All  was  dread,  confusion,  alarm.  Worship 
was  disturbed  on  the  Sabbath,  and  business  was 
neglected  on  week-days.  In  this  condition  of  things, 
General  Scott  was  ordered  to  Maine,  to  consult  with 
the  governor  and  the  members  of  the  legislature,  to 
negotiate  with  Sir  John  Harvey,  and,  if  possible,  to 
prevent  extremities.  The  two  warriors,  to  the  dis 
pleasure  of  demagogues,  but  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  country  generally,  agreed  upon  terms  which  pre 
vented  bloodshed  at  the  lone  military  posts  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  St.  John  ;  and  thus  saved,  prob 
ably,  England  and  the  United  States  from  the  calam 
ities  of  war. 

Sir  William  Colebrooke,  another  officer  in  the 
British  army,  followed  Sir  John  Harvey,  and,  for  a 
time,  was  very  popular.  The  appointment,  however, 
of  his  son-in-law  to  an  office  next  in  rank  to  his 
own,  gave  much  offence,  and  caused  an  organized 
opposition  to  his  administration.  In  the  end,  the 
dispute  broke  up  Sir  William's  cabinet,  and  produced 
a  memorial  from  the  Assembly  to  the  queen. 

Lord  Stanley,  (who  now  is  the  Earl  of  Derby,  and 
lately  Prime  Minister  of  England,)  who  was  then 
Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  so  far  approved  of  the 
course  of  the  opposition,  as  to  disallow  the  appoint 
ment,  and  to  direct  the  return  of  the  members  of 
the  Council  who  had  retired. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  129 

The  Liberals  claimed  to  have  gained  a  point  never 
before  conceded,  namely,  that,  in  filling  Colonial  offices, 
persons  lorn  in  England  were  to  le  excluded.  In  fact,  it 
was  so  ;  for  when  a  similar  question  arose  in  Canada, 
subsequently,  the  governor-general  affirmed  that  view 
of  Lord  Stanley's  despatch.  Let  the  reader  mark 
the  change  :  the  Whigs  of  the  Revolution  made  no 
demand  like  this ;  they  asked  merely  for  a  recogni 
tion  of  Colonial  talents  and  a  share  of  the  patronage 
of  the  Crown;  —  it  remained  for  the  children  of  Loy 
alists  to  ask  for  and  obtain  the  monopoly  of  public 
office. 

The  principal  leader  of  the  Liberals  at  this  time, 
was  the  Hon.  Lemuel  A.  Wilmot,  who,  of  Loyalist 
descent,  is  a  grandson  of  Daniel  Bliss,  a  native  of 
Concord,  Massachusetts,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
University.  Mr.  Wilmot  possesses  brilliant  powers, 
and  is  an  eloquent  and  effective  speaker.  It  hap 
pened  that  I  made  his  acquaintance  when  his  for 
tunes  were  considered  desperate ;  when  some  of  his 
most  ardent  personal  friends  said  he  was  a  madman ; 
and  when  his  adversaries  told  him  to  his  face  that 
he  was  a  traitor.  He  accepted,  finally,  the  office  of 
attorney-general,  and  at  the  present  moment  is  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court.  7 

Sir  William  Colebrooke  was  transferred  to  the 
government  of  British  Guiana  in  1848,  and  was  suc 
ceeded  by  Sir  Edmund  Head,  late  governor-general 
of  British  America, 

Unlike  most  who  have  administered  Colonial  affairs, 
Sir  Edmund  is  a  civilian.  His  life  in  New  Brunswick 
was  not  without  vexations ;  but  he  kept  opposing 
politicians  in  tolerable  humor,  and  departed  for 


130  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

Canada,  with  the  hearty  good  wishes  of  most  of  the 
people. 

Nothing  which  need  detain  us  has  occurred  within 

!~> 

ten  or  twelve  years,  and  wre  hasten  to  Nova  Scotia. 

In  that  Colony,  the  first  difficulty  of  consequence 
with  the  servants  of  the  Crown  was  in  1836,  when 
the  government  was  administered  by  Sir  Colin 
Campbell,  an  old  soldier,  with  many  scars.  Un 
skilled  in  wordy  strife,  and  used  only  to  move  men 
by  the  tap  of  the  drum  and  the  sound  of  the  bugle, 
he  made  sad  work  of  it  among  politicians  and  news 
paper  editors,  and  was  soon  involved  with  both.  At 
this  time  there  was  not  an  incorporated  city  in  Nova 
Scotia.  The  magistrates  who  held  commissions  from 
the  Crown,  and  who  were  entirely  independent  of 
the  people,  controlled  everything  in  (heir  respective 
parishes  and  counties.  "  Neglect,  mismanagement, 
and  corruption,  were  perceptible  everywhere."  In 
the  government  of  the  Province,  the  legislative,  ex 
ecutive,  and  judicial  powers  were  strangely  blended ; 
for  the  same  individual  —  such  was  the  exact  fact  — 
was  called  upon  in  one  capacity  to  make  laws-  in 
another,  to  advise  the  governor  as  to  their  execu 
tion  •  and,  in  a  third,  to  administer  them  as  a  judge  ' 
on  the  bench.  Nay,  more ;  the  Episcopal  bishop  of 
the  Province  was  a  member  of  the  Council;  five  other 
members  of  that  body  were  of  two  family  connec 
tions,  and  five  more  were  copartners  in  one  mercan 
tile  firm;  while  the  sessions  were  with  closed  doors, 
and  the  incumbents  held  office  for  life.  To  add  that 
the  Council  was  composed  of  only  twelve  members, 

1  Even  the  chief  justice  of  the  Province  performed  these  threefold 
and  incompatible  duties. 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  131 

and  was  not  responsible,  because  it  could  not  be 
reached;  to  add  this,  and  the  reader  has  the  outlines 
of  the  political  institutions  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  in 
several  important  particulars,  of  all  British  America, 
hardly  more  than  thirty  years  ago. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs,  the  Hon.  Joseph  Howe, 
who  is  now  known  as  a  statesman,  was  elected  to 
the  House  of  Assembly.  Like  other  leaders  of  the 
Liberals  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  he  is  of  Loyalist 
descent.  His  father  was  John  Howe,  of  Boston,  who 
embarked  for  Halifax  with  the  British  army  at  the 
evacuation,  and  became  postmaster-general  of  the 
Province.  Mr.  Howe  himself  was  bred  a  printer. 
Prosecuted  for  an  article  which  appeared  in  his 
paper,  arraigning  the  magistrates  of  Halifax  for  gross 
corruption  and  neglect  of  duty,  and  acquitted  by 
the  jury,  to  the  great  joy  of  those  who  wished  for 
reform,  he  was  adopted  at  once  as  their  champion. 
With  a  temerity  that  amazed  his  own  friends,  he 
assailed  the  Council  and  the  abuses  of  the  existing 
system  of  government  generally,  in  twelve  carefully 
drawn  resolutions.  In  the  Canadas,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  Reformers,  or  Liberals,  were  fast  hurrying  mat 
ters  to  a  bloody  issue  ;  and  these  resolutions,  em 
bracing  as  they  did  radical  changes  in  every  depart 
ment,  were  opposed  in  a  temper  that  would  have 
silenced  forever  any  common  man.  But  they  passed 
the  Assembly  finally,  and  were  transmitted  to  Eng 
land.  Such  was  the  beginning. 

Sir  Colin  Campbell  resisted  Mr.  Howe,  and  the 
party  of  which  he  was  the  recognized  head,  for 
about  three  years,  when  the  ministry  wisely  trans 
ferred  him  to  another  Colony. 


132  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

Lord  Falkland,  who  succeeded,  married  a  daughter 
of  King  William  the  Fourth.  His  Lordship  endeav 
ored  to  put  an  end  to  the  animosities  which  Sir 
Colin  had  bequeathed  him ;  and  his  first  important 
measure  was,  the  formation  of  a  coalition  cabinet, 
in  which  Mr.  Howe  accepted  a  place.  So  diverse, 
however,  were  its  members  in  opinion  and  in  social 
rank,  that  the  "  Coalition  "  —  as  sure  to  fail  there  as 
everywhere  else  —  lasted  hardly  a  year  and  a  half. 
He  next  dissolved  the  Assembly,  and  met  a  new  one, 
only  to  encounter  increased  difficulties.  In  truth, 
the  Liberals  were  determined  upon  extensive  re 
forms,  and  would  not  listen  to  overtures  of  compro 
mise.  In  1844,  such  had  become  the  tone  of  the 
press  and  the  people  that  favored  and  insisted  upon 
change,  that  political  discussions  took  the  place  of 
all  others.  In  the  Assembly  there  was  a  debate  on 
fourteen  successive  days,  in  a  temper  that  was  not 
even  decent.  The  relations  between  Lord  Falkland 
and  Mr.  Howe  had  become  personally  hostile,  and 
remarks  were  made  by  the  latter  which  are  not  to  be 
approved. 

It  had  ordinarily  happened,  that  on  the  adjourn 
ment  of  the  Assembly,  the  people  gradually  became 
quiet  and  pursued  their  avocations,  in  forgetfulness 
of  politics.  It  was  not  so  then. 

To  hear  the  fishermen  and  the  \vood-choppers 
speculate  upon  the  wonders  to  be  accomplished  by 
"Reform,"  one  would  have  thought  that  "  Jo  Howe," 
as  they  called  him,  once  in  power,  fish  and  fuel 
would  advance  in  price  in  Boston  market  full  one 
quarter  part.  In  1845,  Mr.  Howe  traversed  Nova 
Scotia,  and  increased  the  popular  excitement.  He 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  !#>> 

addressed  throngs  in  all  the  principal  places,  and 
often  spoke  three,  and  even  four  hours  at  a  time. 

It  was  "Jo  Howe,"  by  day  and  by  night.  The 
Yankee  pedler  who  is  immortalized  in  Sam  Slick, 
drove  good  bargains  in  "Jo  Howe"  clocks.  In  the 
coal  mine,  in  the  plaster  quarry,  in  the  ship-yard, 
and  in  the  forest,  and  on  board  the  fishing-pogy,  the 
jigger,  and  the  pinkcy,  it  was  still  "Jo  Howe." 
Ships  and  babies  were  named  "Jo  Howe."  The 
topers  of  the  shops  and  taverns  swore  great  oaths 
about  "Jo  Howe."  The  young  men  and  maidens 
flirted  and  courted  in  "Jo  Howe  "  badges,  and  played 
and  sang  "  Jo  Howe "  glees.  It  was  "  Jo  Howe " 
everywhere. 

In  the  Assembly,  the  same  year,  Mr.  Howe's 
speeches  were  frequent  and  personal.  His  invec 
tives  against  Lord  Falkland  were  bitter  beyond  ex 
ample,  and  he  declared,  on  one  occasion,  that  it 
might  become  necessary  "  to  hire  a  black  fellow  to 
horsewhip  his  Lordship  through  the  streets  of  Hali 
fax." 

Meantime  the  Liberals  made  stead}'  progress,  and 
effected  changes  which,  at  the  outset,  they  them 
selves  did  not  deem  possible. 

Sir  John  Harvey,  already  mentioned  as  governor 
of  New  Brunswick,  was  ordered  to  assume  the  direc 
tion  of  affairs  in  1840,  and  specially  instructed  to 
adopt  conciliatory  measures,  and  to  calm  the  public 
mind.  He  attempted  to  form  a  cabinet,  as  Lord 
Falkland  had  done,  of  Liberals  and  Conservatives, 
but  giving  the  latter  party  a  majority  of  one.  He 
failed,  because  the  Liberals  claimed  to  be  in  the 
ascendant,  and  because  some  of  that  party  were 

VOL.  I.  12 


134  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

averse  to  a  second  "  Coalition."  Sir  John  promptly 
referred  the  contest  to  the  people,  by  dissolving  the 
Assembly  and  ordering  a  general  election.  The 
Conservatives  were  defeated. 

The  new  Assembly  met  early  in  1848,  when  the 
existing  Council  retired.  The  Liberals  filled  the  va 
cant  seats  with  their  own  leaders,  and  disposed  of 
the  great  law-offices  of  the  Crown  at  pleasure.  Mr. 
Howe  became  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  and  received, 
besides,  the  lucrative  post  of  provincial  secretary, 
which,  as  Colonists  fix  rank,  is  inferior  only  to  the 
office  of  governor.  Thus,  in  twelve  years,  the  politi 
cal  millennium  was  ushered  in :  but  sooth  to  say,  the 
Boston  price-current  continued  to  quote  fish  and 
wood  and  grindstones,  according  to  the  old  commer 
cial  law  of  supply  and  demand,  to  the  utter  astonish 
ment  of  many  a  simple  "  Bluenose  "  who  had  neg 
lected  his  business,  year  after  year,  to  make  "Jo 
Howe  "  a  great  man. 

Men's  motives  are  generally  mingled,  and  it  may 
be  admitted  that  Mr.  Howe  desired,  in  this  long 
struggle,  to  win  personal  distinction ;  but  it  is  due 
to  him  to  say  that  he  declined  office  more  than  once, 
and  that  by  his  labors  and  sacrifices  he  achieved 
great  and  permanent  good  for  his  native  Colony. 
His  speeches  and  political  papers  have  been  pub 
lished  in  Boston  in  two  octavo  volumes,  and  show 
that  he  well  deserves  the  name  of  statesman.1 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  the  political  agitations  in 
the  British  possessions,  north  and  east  of  us. 

It  remains  to  consider  the  results  of  these  agita 
tions, —  to  speak  of  the  concessions  of  the  mother- 

1  See  the  notice  of  John  Howe. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  135 

country.  Upon  this  subject,  details  are  unneces 
sary. 

The  whole  system  of  monopoly,  on  which  the 
Colonial  form  of  government  was  founded,  has  been 
swept  away.  The  disabilities,  as  relates  to  com 
merce  and  manufactures,  which  existed  in  our  fath 
ers'  time,  have  disappeared.  There  is  not  an  im 
perial  custom-house,  or  an  imperial  revenue-officer, 
in  all  British  America.  Colonial  ships  voyage  to  all 
parts  of  the  world.  The  substance  of  a  long  des 
patch  from  Earl  Grey  to  Lord  Elgin,  in  1846,  was, 
that  ihc  Colonists  mat/  MAKE  what  the//  will ;  may  BUY 
where  they  please ;  may  SELL  where  they  can.  Had  this 
State  paper  been  framed  seventy  years  earlier,  and  in 
177G,  the  public  debt  of  England  would  have  been 
five  hundred  millions  of  dollars  less  than  it  is,  and 
one  hundred  thousand  Anglo-Saxon  men  and  women 
would  not  have  perished  in  battle,  in  storm,  and  in 
prison. 

Mark  the  progress  in  civilization  and  in  political 
freedom.  "  Make  what  you  will ;  luy  where  you 
please  ;  sell  where  you  can  !  "  In  the  annunciation 
of  these  words,  England  herself  pronounced  the  vin 
dication  of  the  "upstart  barristers,"-  -John  Adams, 
John  Jay,  and  John  Marshall, —  the  vindication  of  the 
"  upstart  tobacco  planter  "  of  Mount  Vernon,  and  of 
their  associates ;  and  in  the  face  of  the  civilized 
world  she  abandoned  the  accusation  that  the  Whigs 
of  the  Revolution  "were  but  successful  rebels  and 
traitors."  In  the  old  thirteen  Colonies,  she  endeav 
ored  to  maintain,  by  arms,  the  monopoly  of  ships 
and  workshops  and  places  of  honor,  for  natives  of 
the  British  Isles  ;  and  humanity  weeps  over  smoul- 


136  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

deriiig  ruins  and  divided  and  expatriated  families,  to 
save  the  Colonial  system  of  government,  which,  with 
out  an  element  of  human  brotherhood,  was  trans 
mitted  by  heathen  Carthage  and  Rome,  and  which, 
all  now  agree,  should  never  have  been  fastened  upon 
the  Colonists  of  any  Christian  nation.  Mark  the 
change!  Fourteen  years  after  the  promulgation  of 
Earl  Gray's  despatch,  the  heir  to  the  British  throne, 
and  his  suite  of  nobles,  mused  at  the  spot  where 
Washington  is  buried,  and  on  the  battle-ground 
where  Warren  died  ! l 

Again,  England  no  longer  excludes  Colonial  tal 
ents  from  places  of  honor  or  emolument,  The 
governor-general  and  the  governors  of  the  separ 
ate  Colonies  are  still  appointed  by  the  Crown,  but 
the  subordinate  posts  are  open  to  Colonists,  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  popular  will.  Nay,  more.  Mr. 
Howe,  in  several  elaborate  letters  to  Lord  John 
Russell,  claims  that  natives  of  the  Colonies  shall  be 
eligible  to  the  highest  places  in  the  church,  in  the 
army  and  navy ;  shall  be  allowed  to  represent  Eng 
land  at  foreign  courts,  and  to  occupy  the  position  of 
cabinet  ministers  at  home. 

In  view  of  these  pretensions,  recall  that  a  governor 
of  Massachusetts  once  refused  to  appoint  John  Ad 
ams  a  justice  of  the  peace ;  that  Washington  was 
denied  the  commission  of  colonel  in  the  army,  and 
that  John  Marshall,  who  lived  to  found  the  juris 
prudence  of  a  nation,  was  doomed,  as  a  Colonist, 

1  The  Prince  of  Wales  visited  Mount  Vernon,  October  5,  and  Bunker 
Hill,  October  19,  1860.  Among  the  distinguished  personages  who  ac 
companied  him  on  his  visit  to  the  Colonies  and  to  the  United  States,  were 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  the  Earl  of  St.  Germans,  Viscount  Hincherbroke, 
and  Honorable  Major-General  Robert  Bruce. 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  l-°>7 

to   plead  before  English-born  judges,   in    the  county 
courts  of  Virginia.      A  single  word  more. 

A  few  years  ago  the  most  intense  hate  was  cher 
ished  by  Colonists  towards  people  of  the  United 
States.  Their  fathers  were  the  losers,  our*  were  the 
winners,  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Nor  was 
kind  feeling  entertained  among  us.  It  was  thought 
disloyal  in  a  Colonist,  and  to  evince  a  want  of  pa 
triotism  in  a  citizen  of  the  republic,  to  seek  to  pro 
mote  sentiments  of  love  on  either  side,  and  to  unite 
kinsmen  who,  two  generations  ago,  were  severed  in 
the  dismemberment  of  the  British  empire.  But  the 
change  is  wonderful ;  and  some  persons  who  com 
menced  the  work  of  reconciliation  live  to  witness 
the  consummation  of  their  highest  hopes.  The  chil 
dren  of  the  Whigs  and  the  children  of  the  Tories 
have  become  reconciled.1  God  be  praised  that  it  is 
so !  The  controversy  relative  to  our  rights  in  the 
fisheries  in  the  British  colonial  seas,  which  for 
awhile,  on  the  American  side  of  the  frontier,  was 
conducted  by  my  single  pen,  opened,  as  I  venture 
to  record,  the  way  for  the  adjustment  of  all  the 
questions  of  difference.  The  Treaty  of  Reciprocity, 
concluded  in  1854,  was  the  crowning  measure  of 
peace  and  good-will;  since,  if  revised  —  as  it  should 
be --it  will  be  lasting. 

1  This  chapter  was  written  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  present 
unhallowed  rebellion,  but  I  make  no  change  in  the  text,  in  consequence 
of  the  feeling  towards  the  North  by  a  jxtrt  of  the  politicians  and  of  the 
newspapers  in  British  America ;  for  what  is  said  and  written  is  not 
worthy  of  thought,  much  less  does  it  represent  the  great  Colonial  heart. 
12* 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Introductory  Remarks.  Principles  of  Unbelief  prevalent.  The  Whigs 
lose  sight  of  their  Original  Purposes,  and  propose  Conquests.  Decline 
of  Public  Spirit.  Avarice,  Rapacity,  Traffic  with  the  Enemy.  Gam 
bling,  Speculation,  Idleness,  Dissipation,  and  Extravagance.  Want 
of  Patriotism.  Excessive  Issue  of  Paper  might  have  been  avoided. 
Recruits  for  the  Army  demand  Enormous  Bounty.  Shameless  Deser 
tions  and  Immoralities.  Commissions  in  the  Army  to  men  destitute 
of  Principle.  Court-martials  frequent,  and  many  Officers  Cashiered. 
Resignations  upon  Discreditable  Pretexts,  and  alarmingly  prevalent. 
The  Public  Mind  fickle,  and  Disastrous  Changes  in  Congress.  The 
Whigs  of  England. 

IT  has  been  my  constant  endeavor  to  speak  of  those 
who  opposed  the  Whigs,  in  the  momentous  conflict 
which  made  us  an  independent  people,  calmly  and 
mildly.  For  — 

"  Mercy  to  him  that  shows  it  is  the  rule 
And  righteous  limitation  of  its  act, 
By  which  Heaven  moves  in  pardoning  guilty  man ; 
And  he  that  shows  none,  being  ripe  in  years, 
And  conscious  of  the  outrage  lie  commits, 
Shall  seek  it,  and  not  Jind  it,  in  his  turn" 

Virtuous  men,  whatever  their  errors  and  mistakes, 
are  to  be  respected  ;  and  with  regard  to  others,  it  is 
well  to  remember  the  beautiful  sentiment  of  Gold 
smith,  that  "  we  should  never  strike  an  unnecessary 
blow  at  a  victim  over  whom  Providence  holds  the 
scourge  of  its  resentment," 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  139 

While  intending  to  be  just,  I  have  felt  that  I  might 
also  be  generous. 

"  Can  he  be  strenuous  in  his  country's  cause 
Who  slights  the  chanties  for  whose  dear  sake 
That  country,  if  at  all,  must  be  beloved  ?  " 

A  word  now  of  the  winners  in  the  strife.  I  pre 
mise  that  1  am  of  Whig  descent.  My  father's  father 
received  his  death-wound  under  Washington,  at  Tren 
ton  ;  my  mother's  father  fought  under  Stark,  at  Ben- 
niiiirton.  There  are  those  who  are  still  readv  to 

O  *S 

do  battle  for  ever//  "  Whig,"  and  to  denounce  ever// 
"Tory;"  who  still  believe  that  all  who  were  known 
by  the  former  name  were  disinterested  and  virtuous, 
and  that  all  to  whom  the  latter  epithet  was  applied, 
were  selfish  and  vicious,  and  deserving  of  reproach. 
To  these,  I  address  the  concluding  chapter  of  this 
Essay. 

I  do  not  care,  of  all  things,  to  be  thought  to  want 
appreciation  of  those  of  my  countrymen  who  broke 
the  yoke  of  Colonial  vassalage  ;  nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  clo  I  care  to  imitate  the  writers  of  a  late  school, 
and  treat  the  great  and  the  successful  actors  in  the 
world's  affairs  as  little  short  of  divinities,  and  as 
exempt  from  criticism.  In  speaking  of  men  who 
have  left  their  impress  upon  their  age,  something,  I 
own,  is  due  to  the  dignity  of  history  ;  but  something, 
too,  is  due  to  the  dignity  of  truth.  The  bandaged 
eyes  and  the  even  scales,  I  apprehend,  are  as  lit  em 
blems  for  the  student  as  for  the  judge  \  and  so,  upon 
the  evidence,  and  upon  the  law  of  progress,  I  say 
that  we  are  not  to  look  for  as  great  intellectual  de 
velopment,  or  for  as  high  civilization,  among  bound 
or  even  emancipated  British  Colonists,  as,  after  the 


140  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

lapse   of  two   generations,   exist   around    us,   and   in 
Anglo-Saxon  countries  everywhere. 

We  have  now  the  off-hand  limnings  of  John  Ad 
ams  and  of  others,  of  the  men  and  manners  of  the 
second  half  of  the  last  century ;  and  those  who  are 
well  informed  as  to  the  leading  personages  and  events 
of  that  period  will  not  doubt  the  general  accuracy  of 
the  pictures.  These  sketches  of  the  principal  char 
acters  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  in  Con 
gress,  as  well  as  the  mention  of  the  sectional  jeal 
ousies  that  prevailed,  —  of  the  personal  quarrels  and 
alienations  that  existed  among  the  Whigs  of  high 
position  in  the  civil  and  military  line  at  home,  and 
among  those  who  were  employed  abroad  on  embas 
sies  of  the  last  importance  to  the  Whig  cause,  —  show 
clearly  that  the  prominent  men  of  the  Revolutionary 
era  were  great  and  good,  little  and  bad,  mingled  ; 
just  as  elsewhere  in  the  annals  of  our  race.  The 
Whigs  of  lofty  virtue,  like  William  III.  of  England, 
were  compelled  by  the  necessities  of  their  condition 
to  employ  as  instruments  persons  whom  they  knew 
or  believed  to  be  mere  mercenaries,  who  would  fall 
off  and  join  the  royal  side  the  moment  that  interest 
or  a  case  for  individual  safety  should  appear  to  re 
quire  ;  and,  like  William,  they  seemed  oblivious  of 
this  fact,  simply  because,  under  the  circumstances, 
it  was  sound  policy  to  be  blind,  forgetful,  and  igno 
rant. 

Nay,  this  general  statement  will  not  serve  my  pur 
pose.  Justice  demands  as  severe  a  judgment  of  the 
Whigs  as  of  their  opponents  ;  and  I  shall  here  record 
the  result  of  long  and  patient  study.  At  the  Revolu 
tionary  period,  the  principles  of  unbelief  were  diffused 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  141 

to  a  considerable  extent  throughout  the  Colonies.  It 
is  certain  that  several  of  the  most  conspicuous  per 
sonages  of  those  days  were  either  avowed  disbelievers 
in  Christianity,  or  cared  so  little  about  it,  that  they 
were  commonly  regarded  as  disciples  of  the  English 
or  French  schools  of  sceptical  philosophy.  Again, 
the  Whigs  were  by  no  means  exempt  from  the  lust 
of  dominion.  Several  of  them  were  among  the  most 
noted  land  speculators  of  their  time.  As  1  have  else 
where  said,  in  the  progress  of  the  war,  and  in  a  man 
ner  hardly  to  be  defended,  we  find  them  sequestering 
and  appropriating  to  themselves  the  vast  estates  of 
those  who  opposed  them.  So  we  find  that  while  the 
issue  of  the  contest  was  yet  doubtful,  they  lost  sight 
of  its  original  purposes,  and  in  their  endeavors  to 
procure  the  alliance  of  France,  they  proposed  that 
she  should  join  them  in  an  enterprise  to  conquer  her 
own  former  Colonial  possessions  in  America ;  and  the 
Saxon  thirst  for  boundless  sway  may  be  seen  in  their 
calm  and  thoughtful  proposition,  to  keep  nearly  all 
the  soil  and  fishing-grounds  to  be  acquired  for  their 
own  use  and  aggrandizement.  Still  again,  avarice  and 
rapacity  were  seemingly  as  common  then  as  now. 
Indeed,  the  stock-jobbing,  the  extortion,  the  forestall 
ing,  the  low  arts  and  devices  to  amass  wealth,  that 
were  practised  during  the  struggle,  are  almost  incred 
ible.  Washington  mourned  the  want  of  virtue  as 
early  as  1775,  and  averred  that  he  "trembled  at  the 
prospect."  Soldiers  were  stripped  of  their  miserable 
pittance,  that  contractors  for  the  army  might  become 
rich  in  a  single  campaign.  Many  of  the  sellers  of 
merchandise  monopolized  articles  of  the  first  neces 
sity,  and  would  not  part  with  them  to  their  suffering 


142  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

countrymen,  and  to  the  wives  and  children  of  those 
who  were   absent    in    the   field,   unless  at  enormous 
profits.     The  traffic  carried  on  with  the  royal  troops 
was   immense.      Men   of  all    descriptions   finally  en 
gaged  in  it,  and  those  who  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  would  have  shuddered  at  the  idea  of  any  connec 
tion  with  the  enemy,  pursued  it  with  avidity.     The 
public    securities   were    often    counterfeited ;    official 
signatures  were    forged  ;    and   plunder   and  robbery 
openly   indulged.     Appeals   to   the    guilty  from   the 
pulpit,  the  press,  and  the  halls  of  legislation,  were 
alike  unheeded.     The   decline   of  public   spirit ;   the 
love  of  gain  of  those  in  office  ;  the  plotting  of  dis 
affected    persons ;    and    the    malevolence    of  faction 
became  widely  spread,  and  in  parts  of  the  country 
were  uncontrollable.     The  useful  occupations  of  life, 
and  the  legitimate  pursuits  of  commerce,  were  aban 
doned   by  thousands.     The   basest  of  men   enriched 
themselves  ;   and  many  of  the  most  estimable  sunk 
into  obscurity  and  indigence.     There  were  those  who 
would  neither  pay  their  debts  nor  their  taxes.     The 
finances  of  the  State,  and  the  fortunes  of  individuals 
were  to  an  alarming  extent  at  the  mercy  of  gamblers 
and  speculators.     The  indignation  of  Washington  was 
freely  expressed.     "  It  gives  me  very  sincere   pleas 
ure,"  he  said,  in  a  letter  to  Joseph  Reed,  "  to  find  the 
Assembly  [of  Pennsylvania]   is   so  wrell   disposed   to 
second  your  endeavors  in  bringing  those  murderers 
of  our  cause,  the  monopolizers,  forestallers,  and  en 
grossers,  to  condign  punishment.     It  is  much  to  be 
lamented,  that  each  State  long  ere  this  has  not  hunted 
them  down  as  pests  to  society,  and  the  greatest  ene 
mies  we  have  to  the  happiness  of  America.     No  pun- 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  143 

ishment,  in  my  opinion,  is  too  great  for  the  man  who 
can  build  his  greatness  upon  his  country's  ruin."  In 
a  letter  to  another,  he  drew  this  picture,  which  he 
solemnly  declared  to  he  a  true  one  :  '*  From  what  I 
have  seen, heard,  and  in  part  know,"  said  he,  "I  should 
in  one  word  say,  that  idleness,  dissipation,  and  extrav 
agance,  seem  to  have  laid  fast  hold  of  most ;  that 
speculation,  peculation,  and  an  insatiable  thirst  for 
riches,  seem  to  have  got  the  better  of  every  other 
consideration  and  almost  every  order  of  men  ;  and 
that  party  disputes  and  personal  quarrels  are  the 
in'eat  business  of  the  day."  In  other  letters  he  la- 

o  J 

ments  the  laxity  of  public  morals,  the  "  distressed, 
ruinous,  and  deplorable .  condition  of  affairs  ;  "  the 
"  many  melancholy  proofs  of  the  decay  of  private 
virtue ; "  and  asks  if  "  the  paltry  consideration  of  a 
little  pelf  to  individuals  is  to  be  placed  in  competition 
with  the  essential  rights  and  liberties  of  the  present 
generation,  and  of  millions  yet  unborn."  And  scat 
tered  through  his  correspondence  are  passages  which 
show  "  the  increasing  rapacity  of  the  times ; "  the 
"  declining  zeal  of  the  people  ; "  and  in  which  he  re 
joices  over  the  "  virtuous  few,"  who  were  struggling 
against  the  corruptions  and  "  stock-jobbing  of  the 
multitude." 

I  pass  next  to  discuss  the  question  of  patriotism. 
In  the  first  place,  then,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
the  war  was  undertaken  for  the  holiest  cause  which 
ever  arrayed  men  in  battle  ;  that  the  Whigs  were  a 
minority  in  some  of  the  States,  barely  equalled  their 
opponents  in  others,  and  in  the  Avhole  country  com 
posed  but  an  inconsiderable  majority ;  and  that  of 
consequence,  there  was  every  incentive  to  exertion, 


144  HISTORICAL   ESSAY. 

to  action,  to  union,  and  to  sacrifice  for  the  common 
good.  But  what  is  the  truth  ?  To  say  nothing  of 
the  Whigs  of  Vermont,  who  at  one  period  were  de 
clared  by  Washington  to  be  "a  dead  weight  upon 
the  cause  • "  some  examination  of  the  resources  of 
the  thirteen  Federal  States  has  served  to  convince 
me,  that,  had  the  advice  and  plans  of  the  illustrious 
Commander-in-Chief,  of  Franklin,  and  other  judicious 
and  patriotic  persons  been  adopted  ;  and  had  there 
been  system  and  common  prudence  and  integrity  in 
the  management  of  affairs,  the  army  might  have  been 
well  fed,  clothed,  and  paid  throughout  the  struggle. 
The  prevalent  impression  is  that  America  was  poor. 
In  my  judgment  it  was  not  so.  The  people  who, 
before  the  Revolution,  bought  tea  to  the  amount  of 
two  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  annually,  and  who, 
in  the  most  distressing  periods  of  the  contest,  im 
ported  useless  articles  of  luxury,  were  not  poor,  but 
able  to  maintain  those  who  served  in  the  field.  Par 
ticular  States,  and  thousands  of  individuals,  exhausted 
their  means  to  aid  in  achieving  the  independence  of 
their  country;  but  I  am  satisfied  that  the  want  of 
patriotism  in  other  States,  and  in  other  individual 
Whigs,  produced  the  appalling  calamities  of  the  war, 
and  compelled  the  resort  to  the  seizure  of  private 
property,  and  other  objectionable  expedients.  The 
issuing  of  bills  of  credit  was,  perhaps,  unavoidable ; 
but  their  excessive  depreciation  might  and  should 
have  been  prevented.  The  exports  of  the  Colonies 
prior  to  1775  were  large;  and  with  a  liberal  allow 
ance  for  diminished  production  during  hostilities, 
there  were  still  provisions  at  all  times  to  feed  the 
people,  and  both  the  Whig  and  the  Royal  forces.  In 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  145 

fact,  the  prizes  taken  by  the  numerous  privateers 
were  very  valuable,  and  increased  the  ability  of  the 
country,  probably,  nearly  as  much  as  it  was  lessened 
by  the  partial  interruption  of  agriculture.  The 
King's  troops  were  well  supplied  ;  for  his  generals 
paid  "  hard  money,"  and  not  the  "  continental  stuff." 
"  I  am  amazed,"  said  Washington  to  Colonel  Stewart. 
"  at  the  report  you  make  of  the  quantity  of  provision 
that  goes  daily  into  Philadelphia1  from  the  County 
of  Bucks  ;  "  -  and  mark  that  this  was  written  in  Jan 
uary  of  that  memorable  winter  which  the  American 
army  passed  in  nakedness  and  starvation  at  Valley 
Forge.  So,  too,  there  were  men  enough  who  in  name 
were  Whigs,  to  meet  the  strongest  force  that  was 
ever  employed  to  suppress  the  popular  movement. 
There  was  always  an  army  -  -  on  paper ;  but  the 
votes  of  Congress  were  seldom  executed  by  the 
States.  At  the  close  of  one  campaign  there  was  not 
a  sufficient  number  of  troops  in  camp  to  man  the 
lines ;  and  at  the  opening  of  another,  when  the 
Commander-in-Chief  was  expected  to  take  the  field. 
"  scarce  any  State  in  the  Union,"  as  he  himself  said- 
had  "  an  eighth  part  of  its  quota "  in  service.  The 
bounty  finally  paid  to  soldiers  was  enormous.  Omit 
ting  details,  the  general  fact  will  be  indicated  by  stat 
ing  that  the  price  for  a  single  recruit  was  as  high 
sometimes  as  seven  hundred  and  fifty,  and  one  thou 
sand  dollars,  on  enlistment  for  the  war,  besides  the 
bounty  and  emoluments  given  by  Congress ;  and 
that  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  "  in  specie  "  was 
exacted  and  paid  for  a  term  of  duty  of  only  five 
months.  Such  were  the  extraordinary  inducements 

1   Then  occupied  by  the  British  Army. 
VOL.  I.  13 


146  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

necessary  to  tempt  some  men  to  serve  their  country, 
when  their  dearest  interests  were  at  issue.  Still, 
large  numbers  of  Whigs  demanded  that  Washington 
should  face  and  fight  their  enemies,  without  troops, 
without  stores,  and  at  times,  without  even  their  own 
confidence  and  sympathy.  If  we  allow  that  much 
of  the  reluctance  to  enter  the  army  arose  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  privations  and  sufferings  to  be  en 
dured  in  camp,  and  from  aversion  to  receive  payment 
for  service  in  a  depreciated  currency,  we  shall  palliate 
the  conduct  of  the  class  expected  to  be  soldiers  only 
to  censure  by  implication  another  class,  who  pos 
sessed,  but  kept  back,  the  means  of  supporting  those 
who  fought  their  battles. 

Making  every  allowance  for  the  effects  of  hunger 
and  want,  for  the  claims  of  families  at  home,  and  for 
other  circumstances  equally  imperative ;  desertion, 
mutiny,  robbery,  and  murder,  are  still  high  crimes. 
There  were  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  who  deserted 
in  parties  of  twenty  and  thirty  at  a  time,  and  several 
hundred  of  those  who  thus  abandoned  the  cause,  fled 
to  Vermont,  and  were  among  the  early  settlers  of 
that  State.  A  thousand  men,  the  date  of  whose 
enlistment  had  been  misplaced,  perjured  themselves 
in  a  body,  as  fast  as  they  could  be  sworn,  in  order  to 
quit  the  ranks  which  they  had  voluntarily  entered. 
In  smaller  parties,  hundreds  of  others  demanded  dis 
mission  from  camp  under  false  pretexts,  and  with  lies 
upon  their  lips.  Some,  also  added  treason  to  deser 
tion,  and  joined  the  various  corps  of  Loyalists  in  the 
capacity  of  spies  upon  their  former  friends,  or  of 
guides  and  pioneers.  Many  more  enlisted,  deserted, 
and  reenlisted  under  new  recruiting  officers,  for  the 


HISTORICAL   ESSAY.  147 

purpose  of  receiving  double  bounty ;  while  others, 
who  placed  their  names  upon  the  rolls,  were  paid  the 
money  to  which  they  were  entitled,  but  refused  to 
join  the  army ;  and  others  still,  who  were  sent  to  the 
hospitals,  returned  home  without  leave  after  their 
recovery,  and  were  sheltered  and  secreted  by  friends 
and  neighbors,  whose  sense  of  right  was  as  weak  as 
their  own.  Another  class  sold  their  clothing,  provis 
ions,  and  arms,  to  obtain  means  for  revelling,  and  to 
indulge  their  propensity  for  drunkenness  •  while  some 
prowled  about  the  country,  to  rob  and  kill  the  unof 
fending  and  defenceless.  A  guard  was  placed  over 
the  grave  of  a  foreigner  of  rank,  who  died  in  Wash 
ington's  own  quarters,  and  who  was  buried  in  full 
dress,  with  diamond  rings  and  buckles ;  "  lest  the 
soldiers  should  be  tempted  to  dig  for  hidden  treas 
ures."  In  a  word,  I  fear  that  whippings,  druinmings 
from  the  service,  and  even  military  executions,  were 
more  frequent  in  the  Revolution  than  at  any  subse 
quent  period  of  our  history. 

If  AVC  turn  our  attention  to  the  officers,  we  shall 
find  that  many  had  but  doubtful  claims  to  respect  for 
purity  of  private  character  ;  and  that  some  were  ad 
dicted  to  grave  vices.  It  is  certain  that  appointments 
w^cre  conferred  upon  unworthy  persons  throughout 
the  war.  Knox  wrote  to  Gerry,  that  there  were  men 
in  commission  "  who  wished  to  have  their  power  per 
petuated  at  the  expense  of  the  liberties  of  the  peo 
ple  ;"  and  wrho  "had  been  rewarded  with  rank  with 
out  having  the  least  pretensions  to  it,  except  cabal 
and  intrigue."  There  were  officers  who  were  desti 
tute  alike  of  honor  and  patriotism,  who  unjustly 
clamored  for  their  pay,  while  they  drew  large  sums 


148  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

of  public  money  under  pretext  of  paying  their  men, 
but  applied  them  to  the  support  of  their  own  extrav- 
aorance  ;  who  went  home  on  furlough,  and  never 

O  "      ^ 

returned  ;  and  who,  regardless  of  their  word  as  gen 
tlemen,  violated  their  paroles,  and  were  threatened 
by  Washington  with  exposure  in  every  newspaper 
in  the  land,  as  men  who  had  disgraced  themselves 
and  were  heedless  of  their  associates  in  captivity, 
whose  restraints  were  increased  by  their  misconduct. 
At  times,  courts-martial  were  continually  sitting ;  and 
so  numerous  were  the  convictions  that  the  names  of 
those  who  were  cashiered  were  sent  to  Congress  in 
lists.  "  Many  of  the  surgeons,"  —  are  the  words  of 
Washington  — "  are  very  great  rascals,  countenancing 
the  men  to  sham  complaints  to  exempt  them  from 
duty,  and  often  receiving  bribes  to  certify  indispo 
sitions,  with  a  view  to  procure  discharges  or  fur 
loughs  ; "  and  still  further,  they  drew  for  the  public 
^  medicines  and  stores  in  the  most  profuse  and  extrav 
agant  manner,  for  private  purposes."  In  a  letter  to 
the  governor  of  a  State,  he  affirmed  that  the  officers 
who  had  been  sent  him  therefrom  were  "  generally 
of  the  lowest  class  of  the  people  ;  "  that  they  "  led  their 
soldiers  to  plunder  the  inhabitants,  and  into  every 
kind  of  mischief."  To  his  brother,  John  Augustine 
Washington,  he  declared  that  the  different  States 
were  nominating  such  officers  as  were  "  not  fit  to  be 
shoeblacks."  Resignations  occurred  upon  discred 
itable  pretexts,  and  became  alarmingly  prevalent, 
Some  resigned  at  critical  moments,  and  others  com 
bined  together  in  considerable  numbers  for  purposes 
of  intimidation,  and  threatened  to  retire  from  the 
service  at  a  specified  time,  unless  certain  terms  wrere 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY  149 

complied  with.  For  a  single  instance,  to  show  the 
extent  of  the  evil,  1  again  quote  from  the  Command- 
er-in-Chief,  who  wrote  to  a  member  of  Congress,  in 
1778,  that  "the  spirit  of  resigning  commissions  has 
been  long  at  an  alarming  height,  and  increases  daily. 
The  Virginia  line  has  sustained  a  violent  shock.  Not 
less  than  ninety  have  already  resigned  to  me.  The 
same  conduct  has  prevailed  among  the  officers  from 
other  States,  though  not  yet  in  so  considerable  de 
gree  ;  and  there  are  but  too  just  grounds  to  fear  that 
it  will  shake  the  very  existence  of  the  arm}7,  unless 
a  remedy  is  soon,  very  soon,  applied."  The  spirit 
did  not  abate  ;  since,  two  years  after,  he  informed 
the  President  of  Congress,  that  he  had  "  scarcely  a 
sufficient  number  [of  officers]  left  to  take  care  even 
of  the  fragments  of  corps  which  remained."  I  would 
not  be  understood  to  assert  that  there  were  not 
proper  and  imperative  causes  to  justify  the  retire 
ment  of  many  ;  but  the  illustrious  man  whose  words 
I  have  so  often  quoted,  and  who  was  obliged  to  bear 
the  disheartening  consequences  of  these  frequent 
resignations,  was  a  competent  judge  of  the  motives 
and  reasons  which  influenced  those  with  whom  he 
was  associated  ;  and  as  we  have  his  assertion  that  he 
was  often  descried,  I  have  not  hesitated  to  class  the 
numerous  throwing  up  of  commissions  with  other 
evidences  of  a  want  of  principle. 

The  complaints  of  wives  and  children  at  home  ; 
the  inattention  of  Congress  and  of  the  State  legisla 
tures,  to  whom  the  officers  had  a  right,  both  legal 
and  moral,  to  look  for  sympathy  and  support  in  the 
poverty  to  which  some  were  reduced,  are  to  be  taken 
into  the  account  in  forming,  and  should  do  much  to 


150  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

soften,  our  judgment ;  but  with  the  proofs  before  me, 
obtained  entirely  from  the  writings  of  distinguished 
Whigs,  I  am  compelled  to  believe  that  many  of  those 
who  abandoned  Washington  were  guilty  of  a  crime, 
which,  when  committed  by  private  soldiers,  is  called 
desertion,  and  punished  with  death.  Eighteen  of  the 
generals  retired  during  the  struggle  :  one  for  drunk 
enness  ;  one  to  avoid  disgrace  for  receiving  double 
pay ;  some  from  declining  health  ;  others  from  the 
weight  of  advanced  years  ;  others  to  accept  civil  em 
ployments  ;  but  several  from  private  resentments, 
and  real  or  imaginary  wrongs  inflicted  by  Congress 
or  associates  in  the  service.  The  example  of  the 
latter  class  was  pernicious ;  since,  when  heads  of  di 
visions  or  brigades  quit  their  commands  for  reasons 
chiefly  or  entirely  personal,  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  regiments,  battalions,  and  companies  would  be 
left  in  like  manner,  without  officers.  Abundant  tes 
timony  can  be  adduced  to  show  that  individuals  of 
all  ranks  entered  the  army  from  interested  motives, 
and  abandoned  it  from  similar  reasons.  John  Adams 
wrote,  in  1777: — "I  am  wearied  to  death  with  the 
wrangles  between  military  officers,  high  and  low. 
They  quarrel  like  cats  and  dogs.  They  worry  one 
another  like  mastitis,  scrambling  for  rank  and  pay 
like  apes  for  nuts."  Washington,  more  guarded  to 
Congress,  uses  language  almost  as  pointed  in  his 
letters  to  private  friends. 

Again,  the  public  mind  was  as  fickle  in  the  Revo 
lution  as  at  present,  McKean,  of  Delaware,  was  the 
only  member  of  Congress  who  served  eight  succes 
sive  years ;  and  Jefferson,  Gerry,  and  Ellery  were  the 
only  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  who 


HISTORICAL    ESSAY.  lf>l 

were  in  service  when  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace 
was  ratified.  The  attendance  of  members,  too,  was 
at  times  irregular,  and  public  affairs  often  suffered 
by  their  absence.  There  were  periods  when  several 
of  the  States  were  without  representation  ;  and  oth 
ers,  when  the  requisite  number  for  the  transaction 
of  business,  were  not  in  their  places.  The  entire 
control  of  matters,  executive  and  legislative,  of  meas 
ures  to  be  taken  to  procure  loans  in  Europe,  and  to 
raise  money  at  home  to  provide  for  the  army,  and 
for  every  other  branch  of  the  public  service,  devolved 
frequently  upon  as  few  as  thirty  delegates  ;  and  some 
of  the  most  momentous  questions  were  determined 
by  twenty.  Those  who  steadily  attended  to  their 
duties  were  worn  down  with  care  and  excessive  la 
bor.  John  Adams,  one  of  them,  was  in  Congress 
three  years  and  three  months,  during  Avhich  time  he 
was  a  member  of  ninety  committees,  and  chairman 
of  twenty-five.  In  the  course  of  the  war,  persons  of 
small  claims  to  notice  or  regard  obtained  seats  in 
Congress,  and  by  their  want  of  capacity  and  principle, 
prolonged  the  contest,  and  needlessly  increased  its 
burdens  and  expenses.  By  the  force  of  party  disci 
pline,  as  was  bitterly  remarked  by  a  leading  Whig, 
men  were  brought  into  the  management  of  affairs 
"  who  might  have  lived  till  the  millennium  in  silent 
obscurity,  had  they  depended  on  their  mental  qual 
ifications." 

Such,  rapidly  told,  is  the  dark  side  of  the  story  of 
the  Revolution,  as  concerns  the  winners.  I  relate  it 
here  for  several  reasons.  First,  because  it  is  due  to 
the  losers  in  the  strife.  Second,  to  show,  what  many 
persons  are  slow  to  believe,  that  there  were  wicked 


152  HISTORICAL    ESSAY. 

«  Whigs  "  as  well  as  wicked  "  Tories."  Third,  to  do 
something  to  correct  the  exaggerated  and  gloomy 
views  which  are  often  taken  of  the  degenerate  spirit 
of  the  present  times,  founded  on  erroneous,  because 
on  a  partial,  estimate  of  the  virtues  of  a  by-gone 


age. 


AMERICAN    LOYALISTS. 

ABBOTT,  BENJAMIN.  Minister  of  the  Methodist  Episco 
pal  Church.  He  was  born  on  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  in  1732. 
His  youth  was  passed  in  dissipation.  Before  the  Revolution 
he  became  religiously  inclined,  and  after  due  spiritual  prep 
aration,  entered  the  ministry.  The  prevalent  impression  was, 
that  few  preachers  of  his  denomination  favored  the  popular 
movement,  and  in  common  with  most  of  them,  "he  was  sus 
pected  of  Toryism.''  But  he  persisted  in  addressing  the 
people,  as  he  had  opportunity,  though  sometimes  "  at  the 
peril  of  his  life."  Once,  while  preaching  "  in  a  private 
house,  a  mob  of  soldiers  came  rushing  in  with  guns  and 
fixed  bayonets,  one  of  whom  approached  him,  and  presented 
his  gun  as  though  he  would  run  him  through,  while  his  asso 
ciates  in  the  adventure  were  standing  around  the  door. 
Mr.  Abbott,  heedless  of  the  interruption,  finished  his  dis 
course;  and  his  assailants,  awed  by  his  intrepidity,  retired 
without  injuring  him.  On  another  occasion,  a  hundred 
armed  men  assembled  at  the  place  of  meeting,  but,  instead 
of  violence,  they  listened  as  orderly  as  others.  Thus  far, 
and  indeed  until  1780,  he  labored  according  to  his  own 
pleasure.  After  he  placed  himself  under  the  direction  of  the 
Conference,  he  was  stationed  on  several  circuits  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  on  one  in  New  Jersey,  and  on  one  in  Mary 
land.  He  died  at  Salem,  N.  J.,  in  1791),  aged  sixty-four, 
and  in  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  ministry. 

ACKERLY,  OBADIAII.  Of  Newr  York.  In  1783  he  aban 
doned  his  home  and  property,  and  settled  in  New  Brunswick. 
He  died  at  St.  John  in  1843,  aged  eighty-seven.  Catharine, 


154  ADAMS.  —  AGNEW. 

his  wife,  (lied  at  the  same  city  in  1830,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two. 

ADAMS,  DOCTOR .  Of  the  State  of  New  York.  In 

1774,  or  early  in  1775,  he  was  hoisted  up  and  exposed  upon 
u  Landlord  Fay's  sign-post,  where  was  fixed  a  dead  cata 
mount."'  The  party  who  inflicted  this  punishment  regretted 
that  they  had  not  tied  him  and  given  him  instead  five  hun 
dred  lashes.  His  residence  was  at  Arlington. 

ADDISON,  REV.  H.  Of  Maryland.  Episcopal  minister. 
He  was  attainted  and  lost  his  estate.  In  178o,  he  was  at 
New  York,  a  petitioner  for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  In  a 
Loyalist  tract  published  at  London  in  1784,  I  find  it  said, 
that  he  was  a  gentleman  of  large  property,  and  that  on  his 
arrival  in  England,  Lord  North  allowed  him  a  pension  of 
,£150  per  annum,  to  support  himself  and  son,  which  was  less 
than  he  had  formerly  given  his  coachman  and  footman. 
And,  adds  the  writer,  Mr.  Addison,  disgusted  at  so  small 
a  consideration,  resigned  his  pension  and  returned  to  New 
York,  where  he  endeavored  to  make  terms  with  the  Whigs, 
and  to  effect  the  restoration  of  his  estate  which  he  valued  at 
,£30,000,  but  that  he  failed  to  obtain  leave  even  to  reside  in 
Maryland. 

ADDISON,  DANIEL  DELANY.  Of  Maryland.  He  entered 
the  Maryland  Loyalists  in  1776  :  was  a  captain  in  1782,  and 
a  major  at  the  peace.  He  went  to  England,  and  received 
half-pay.  He  died  suddenly  at  the  age  of  fifty,  in  Charlotte 
Street,  Fitzroy  Square,  London,  1808. 

AGNEW,  JOHN.  He  was  rector  of  the  Established  Church, 
parish  of  Suffolk,  Virginia.  On  the  24th  of  March,  1775, 
the  Whio-  Committee  of  Nansemond  County  called  him  to 

O  • 

an   account  for  the  loyalty  of  his  pulpit  performances. 

I  have  before  me  a  copy  of  Lord  Dunmore's  Proclamation, 
dated  November  7,  177G,  on  board  the  ship  William,  of  Nor 
folk,  which  Mr.  Agnew  was  ordered  to  read  in  church,  and 
the  indorsement  on  the  back  is,  "  which  was  done  accord 
ingly."  He  soon  after  quitted  that  part  of  the  country,  and 
became  chaplain  of  the  Queen's  Rangers.  He  finally  settled 


AGNEW.  —  AIRMAN.  155 

in  New  Brunswick,  and  died  near  Fredericton,  in  1.812,  aged 
eighty-five.  He  was  taken  prisoner  with  Stair  Agnew  and 
others,  during  the  Revolution,  and  carried  to  France.  On 
the  passage  out,  the  ship  encountered  a  severe  gale,  and  lay 
a  wreck  for  twenty-four  hours. 

AGNEW,  STAIR.  Believed  to  have  been  a  son  of  the  Rev. 
John  Agnew.  He  was  certainly  from  Virginia,  and  a  cap 
tain  in  the  Queen's  Rangers,  and  settled  at  Fredericton, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death,  in  1821,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three.  He  enjoyed  half-pay.  While  attached  to  the 
Rangers  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  carried  to  France,  and 
was  not  exchanged  until  near  the  close  of  the  war.  It  seems 
that  at  the  battle  of  the  Brandy  wine  he  was  severely  wounded, 
and  while  on  his  passage  to  Virginia,  for  recovery,  was  cap 
tured  by  the  French  squadron.  Franklin,  Minister  to  France, 
was  appealed  to,  to  effect  his  release  and  that  of  others  made 
prisoners  at  the  same  time.  Captain  Agnew's  letter  from 
the  Castle  of  St.  Maloes,  February  20,  1782,  details  the  cir 
cumstances  of  his  captivity,  and  contains  some  feeling  allu 
sions  to  his  "  aged  and  beloved  mother."  He  closes  :  "  O, 
God  !  who  knows,  perhaps  she  at  this  moment,  from  an  inde 
pendent  affluence,  is  reduced  by  the  vicissitudes  of  the  times 
to  penury.  My  heart,  afflicted  with  the  misfortunes  of  our 
family,  can  no  more  —  — ."  He  was  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Assembly  of  New  Brunswick  for  thirty  years,  and 
a  magistrate  of  York  County  for  a  considerable  period.  His 

?T5  v  L 

wife,  Sophia  Winifred,  died  in  that  county  in  1<8:20,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-two. 

AIKMAX,  ALEXANDER.  Of  South  Carolina.  He  was  born 
in  Scotland  in  175."),  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  emigrated  to 
Charleston,  and  became  the  apprentice  of  Robert  Wells,  a  book 
seller  and  printer  of  that  city.  He  left  the  country  in  conse 
quence  of  the  Revolution,  and  after  some  wanderings,  fixed 
his  residence  in  Jamaica,  where,  in  1778,  he  established  a 
newspaper  called  the  "  Jamaica  Mercury,"  which  title  was 
changed  to  that  of  the  "  Royal  Gazette,"  on  his  obtaining  the 
patronage  of  the  government  of  the  Colony.  For  many  years 


156  AKERLY.  —  ALLAIRE. 

he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  printer  to 
tli.it  body  and  to  the  King.  In  1795  he  visited  Great  Britain, 
but  was  captured  on  the  passage,  and  compelled  to  ransom 
his  property.  He  visited  his  native  land  three  times  subse 
quently,  but  remained  at  home  after  the  year  1814.  He 
bore  the  character  of  an  honorable,  worthy,  and  charitable 
man.  His  estates  in  the  parish  of  St.  George's  were  known 
as  Birnam  Wood  and  Wallenford.  He  died  at  Prospect  Pen, 
St.  Andrew's,  July,  1838,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three.  His 
wife  was  Louisa  Susanna,  second  daughter  of  Robert  Wells, 
his  former  master.  This  lady  was  four  years  his  fellow-clerk 
in  her  father's  office  at  Charleston,  and  joined  him  from  Eng 
land  after  no  little  peril,  since  she  was  taken  once  by  the 
French,  and  kept  in  France  three  months,  and  was  detained 
a  second  time  by  a  British  cruiser,  because  she  took  passage 
in  a  slave  ship.  She  died  at  West  Cowes  in  1831,  aged  sev 
enty-six.  Her  mother  was  a  Ruthven,  and  of  the  lineage  of 
the  Earls  of  Gowrie.  Mr.  Aikman's  children  were  ten,  of 
whom  there  were  two  survivors  at  the  time  of  his  decease, 
namely,  Mary,  the  wife  of  James  Smith,  of  Jamaica  ;  and 
Ann  Hunter,  the  widow  of  John  Enright,  surgeon  in  the 
Royal  Navy.  Of  his  sons,  Alexander,  who  succeeded  to  his 
business,  died  in  1831,  leaving  a  large  family. 

AKERLY,  -  — .  In  1782,  in  command  of  a  small  party 
of  Loyalists  in  New  York.  Among  his  prisoners  was  one 
Strong,  who  was  hung. 

ALDEN,  ABIATHER.  Of  Maine.  Physician.  One  of  the 
two  Loyalists  of  Saco  and  Biddeford.  An  armed  party  took 
him,  placed  him  on  his  knees  upon  a  large  cask,  and  with  their 
guns  presented  to  his  body,  told  him  to  recant  his  opinions, 
or  suffer  instant  death.  He  signed  the  required  confession, 
and  was  released.  Subsequently  lie  removed  to  Scarborough, 
in  the  same  State.  He  was  distinguished  in  metaphysics. 

ALLAIRE,  ANTHONY.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Loyal  American  Regiment,  and  at  the  peace  a  captain  in  the 
same  corps.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  received 
half-pay.  He  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  the  city  of  St.  John, 


ALLEN.  157 

but,  removing  to  the  country,  died  in  the  parish  of  Douglas, 
in  1808,  at  the  age  of  eighty -four. 

ALLLN,  WILLIAM.  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania.  lie 
accepted  and  held  that  office  at  the  request  of  distinguished 
men  in  the  Province  ;  its  emoluments  were  appropriated  to 
charities.  On  the  approach  of  the  Revolution  he  went  to 
England,  and  died  September,  1780.  He  was  distinguished 
for  his  love  of  literature  and  the  arts  ;  was  a  friend  to  Ben 
jamin  West  when  he  needed  a  patron,  and  assisted  Franklin 
to  establish  a  college  at  Philadelphia.  His  father  was  an 
eminent  merchant,  and  died  in  1725.  No  person  in  Penn 
sylvania,  probably,  was  richer  than  Judge  Allen,  or  possessed 
greater  influence.  A  wag  of  the  time  said,  he  joined  the 
royal  side  "  because  the  Continental  Congress  presumed  to 
declare  the  American  States  free  and  independent  without 
first  asking  the  consent,  and  obtaining  the  approbation,  of 
himself  and  wise  family."  It  is  stated,  that  in  1761,  he  was 
one  of  the  three  persons  in  Philadelphia  who  kept  a  coach. 
His  own  was  drawn  by  four  horses,  and  his  coachman,  who 
was  imported  from  England,  was  "  a  great  whip." 

ALLEN,  WILLIAM.  Of  Pennsylvania,  and  son  of  Chief 
Justice  Allen.  lie  was  a  Whig,  and  accepted  the  commission 
of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Continental  service,  and  served 
under  St.  Clair.  But  in  177(3  he  abandoned  the  cause  of  his 
country,  and  joined  General  Howe,  with  his  brothers.  In 
Continental  Congress,  when  he  asked  to  resign  his  commis- 

o  o 

sion  —  u  Resolved  that  leave  be  granted."  In  1778  he 
raised  a  corps  called  the  Pennsylvania  Loyalists,  and,  with 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  was  the  commanding  officer. 
From  the  influence  of  his  family,  and  from  his  own  personal 
standing,  he  expected  to  make  rapid  enlistments,  but  was 
disappointed.  At  the  siege  of  Pensacola,  one  of  this  corps 
attempted  to  desert,  was  seized,  whipped  to  the  extent  of  five 
hundred  lashes,  drummed  out  of  cam]),  with  his  hands  tied 
behind,  with  a  large  label  pinned  to  his  breast  stating  his 
crime,  escorted  close  to  the  enemy's  line,  and  left  to  his  fate. 
The  day  following,  a  shell  was  thrown  into  the  door  of  the 
VOL.  i.  14 


158  ALLEN. 

magazine,  as  the  men  were  receiving  powder,  and  forty-five 
of  this  regiment  were  killed,  and  a  number  wounded.  In 
1782.  and  near  the  close  of  the  contest,  though  still  in  ser 
vice,  the  Pennsylvania  Loyalists  were  of  but  little  conse 
quence  in  point  of  numbers.  Colonel  Allen  was  noted  for 
wit,  for  good-humor,  and  for  affable  and  gentlemanly  man 
ners.  The  names  of  all  the  officers  under  his  command  at 
the  period  last  mentioned  will  be  found  in  this  work.  He 
was  attainted  of  treason  and  lost  his  estate  under  the  con 
fiscation  acts.  I  find  his  name  last,  in  1783,  as  a  grantee 
of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick. 

ALLEN,  ANDREW.  Of  Pennsylvania,  son  of  Chief  Justice 
Allen,  and  himself  the  successor  of  Judge  Chew,  who  suc 
ceeded  his  father.  He,  at  first,  was  found  among  the  leading- 
Whigs,  and  was  a  member  of  Congress,  and  of  the  Committee 
of  Safety.  In  1776  he  put  himself  under  protection  of  Gen 
eral  Howe,  at  Trenton,  and  during  the  war  went  to  England. 
He  was  attainted,  and  lost  his  estate  under  the  confiscation 
acts.  In  1779  he  was  directed  to  testify  before  Parliament 
on  the  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  Sir  William  Howe  and 
General  Burgoyne,  while  in  America,  but  was  not  examined. 
He  died  in  London  in  1825,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five.  His 
son  AndrewT,  a  very  accomplished  gentleman,  was  many  years, 
prior  to  the  war  of  1812,  British  Consul  at  Boston. 

ALLEN,  JOHN.  Of  Pennsylvania,  a  son  of  Chief  Justice 
Allen.  In  177G  he  joined  the  British  under  General  Howe, 
at  Trenton.  Unlike  his  brother,  he  was  an  avowed  Loyalist 
from  the  first.  He  was  attainted  of  treason,  but  died  at  Phil 
adelphia,  February,  1778,  in  his  thirty-ninth  year,  before  the 
day  on  which  he  was  ordered  to  surrender  himself  for  trial. 

ALLEN,  JAMES.  Of  Philadelphia  ;  the  remaining  son  of 
Chief  Justice  Allen,  and  the  only  one  of  them  who  did  not, 
join  the  Royal  Army.  He  remained  at  home  wholly  inactive, 
though  his  sympathies  were  supposed  to  be  loyal.  He  was 
in  declining  health  in  1776,  and  died  before  the  close  of  the 
following  year.  His  children  were  James  ;  Anne  Penn,  who 
married  James  Greenleaf ;  Margaret,  who  married  Chief 


ALLEN.  159 

Justice  Tilghman  ;  and  Mary,  who  married  Harry  Walter 
Livingston,  of  Livingston's  Manor,  New  York.  The  last- 
named  daughter  was  living  in  1855.  Mrs.  Allen,  who  died 
in  the  year  1800,  was  the  only  daughter  of  John  Lawrence, 
and  cousin  of  Margaret  Shippen,  second  wife  of  Benedict 
Arnold. 

ALLEN,  ISAAC.  A  lawyer  of  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  He 
entered  the  military  service  of  the  Crown,  and  in  1782  was 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  second  battalion  of  New  Jersey  Vol 
unteers.  He  had  property  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  executive 
council  of  that  State  ordered,  that,  unless  he  should  surrender 
himself  and  take  his  trial  for  treason  within  a  specified  time, 
he  should  stand  attainted.  lie  went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  one  uf  the  grantees  of  that  city. 
He  rose  to  distinction  in  that  Province,  and  among  other 
offices  held  a  seat  in  the  Council,  and  was  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  His  residence  was  at  Fredericton,  and  he 
died  there  in  180f>,  aged  sixty-five.  His  sister  Sarah  died  at 
the  same  place  in  1885,  aged  ninety-one. 

ALLEN,  ADAM.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  Queen's  Rangers, 
and,  it  is  believed,  a  lieutenant.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  that 
city.  He  received  half-pay.  In  1798  he  was  in  command 
of  a  post  at  Grand  Falls,  on  the  River  St.  John,  and  wrote  a 
piece  in  verse  descriptive  of  these  Falls,  which  his  son,  Jacob 
Allen,  of  Portland,  New  Brunswick,  sent  to  the  press  in  1845. 
He  died  in  York  County,  New  Brunswick,  in  1828,  aged 
sixty-six. 

ALLEN,  JOLLEY.  Of  Boston.  In  an  account  of  his  suffer 
ings  and  losses,  he  relates  that,  "sometime,  I  think  in  the 
month  of  October,  1772,  I  bought  two  chests  of  tea  of  Gov 
ernor  Hutchinson's  two  sons,  Thomas  and  Elisha,  about 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon."  This  purchase  was  the 
prime  cause  of  all  his  subsequent  misfortunes.  lie  sold  goods 
"  cheap  for  cash  ;  "  he  boarded  many  of  the  British  officers  ; 
and  he  kept  "  horses  and  chaises  to  let."  In  a  word,  Jolley 
was  a  shrewd,  dashing,  thriving  man.  A  Loyalist,  body  and 


160  ALLISON.  —  AMBROSE. 

soul,  he  left  Boston  with  the  Royal  Army,  at  the  evacuation  in 
March,  1776.  The  man  who  engaged  to  convey  his  family 
and  property  to  Halifax,  was  a  knave,  and  unskilful  in  the 
management  of  a  vessel.  Soon  parting  with  the  fleet,  they 
arrived,  not  in  Nova  Scotia,  but  at  Cape  Cod  ;  where  his 
goods  were  seized  and  confiscated,  and  where  all  on  board 
were  imprisoned.  His  brother  Lewis  petitioned  for  leave 
to  take  his  seven  children  ;  and  the  Assembly,  in  granting 
the  request,  stipulated  that  Lewis  should  receive  .£36.8  from 
Jolley's  effects  ;  that  he  should  give  bonds  to  support  the  chil 
dren,  and  should  maintain  Jolley  himself;  while  a  committee 
were  to  take  possession  of  all  the  property,  to  deliver  to  Lewis 
"  the  children's  four  feather  beds  and  bedding,  and  the  wear 
ing  apparel  of  the  children  and  of  the  late  wife  of  Jolley," 
and  his  own  clothing.  In  September,  1776,  our  unhappy 
Loyalist  was  allowed  to  make  sale  of  a  part  of  his  goods  at 
Cape  Cod,  in  order  to  pay  the  debts  contracted  there  by  him 
self  and  family  ;  while  the  selectmen  of  Provincetown  were 
directed  to  deliver  the  remainder  to  a  committee  of  the  Court, 
to  be  disposed  of  on  public  account.  I  find  him  next  in  1779, 
when  lie  was  in  London,  and  one  of  the  Loyalists  who  ad 
dressed  the  king.  He  died  in  England  in  1782.  Sir  William 
Pepperell  and  George  Erving  were  his  executors  ;  and  he 
directed  that,  after  the  troubles  were  over,  his  remains 
should  be  removed  to  the  family  vault  under  King's  Chapel, 
Boston. 

ALLISON,  EDWARD.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  He 
acknowledged  allegiance  in  1776,  and  was  subsequently  a 
captain  in  De  Lancey's  Third  Battalion.  At  the  peace  he 
settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  received  half-pay.  -  He  died 
in  that  Province. 

ALTHOUSE,  JOHN.  Of  New  York.  In  1782  he  was  a 
captain  in  the  New  York  Volunteers.  At  the  peace  he  went 
to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees 
of  the  city.  He  died  in  that  Province. 

AMBROSE,  MICHAEL.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Prince  of  Wales'  American  Volunteers.  He  went  to  New 


AMORY.  161 

Brunswick  at  the  peace,  and  received  half-pay.  He  died  in 
the  parish  of  St.  Martin  in  that  Province. 

AMORY,  THOMAS.  Of  Boston.  He  was  born  in  Boston 
in  172:2,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1741.  He 
studied  divinity,  but  never  took  orders.  In  1705  lie  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Coffin,  and  purchased  the 
house  built  by  Governor  Belcher,  at  the  corner  of  Harvard 
and  Washington  Streets,  which  was  his  principal  residence 
for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  took  very  little  part  in  the  contro 
versies  which  preceded  the  Revolution,  except  that  he  was 
one  of  the  Addressers  of  Gage.  He  was,  however,  on  terms 
of  friendship  with  many  of  the  British  officers  stationed  in 
Boston  ;  and,  it  is  related  that,  while  several  were  dining 
with  him,  a  mob  attacked  his  house,  and  broke  some  of  the 
windows.  Mr.  Amory  spoke  to  them  from  the  porch,  and 
commanded  them  to  disperse  ;  meanwhile,  the  officers  made 
their  escape  through  the  garden.  He  remained  in  Boston 
during  the  siege,  and  at  the  evacuation  in  March.  1776, 
accompanied  by  his  younger  brother  Jonathan,  he  went  to 
Washington,  at  the  instance  of  the  selectmen,  to  request  that 
the  British  might  be  permitted  to  retire  without  molestation, 
on  condition  that  they  embarked  without  injury  to  the  town. 
This  proposition  had  the  sanction  of  Sir  William  Howe  ; 
and,  though  no  positive  arrangement  was  concluded,  an  un 
derstanding  to  this  effect  was  respected  on  both  sides.  His 
wife's  family  —  the  Coffins  —  were  mostly  refugee  Loyalists. 
Of  her  nephews,  two  were  distinguished:  namely,  Isaac,  who 
became  an  Admiral  in  the  Royal  Navy  ;  and  John,  who  rose 
to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-General  in  the  British  Army. 
Suspected  of  sympathy  with  the  enemy,  Mr.  Amory  removed 
to  Watertown,  where  he  lived  some  years.  He  died  in  1784; 
his  widowr  survived  until  1823.  He  left  nine  children,  seven 
of  whom  were  married,  and  resided  in  Boston. 

The  mingling  of  the  blood  of  the  loyal  and  of  the  disloyal, 
at  the  present  time,  causes  one  to  muse  on  the  political  asper 
ities  of  the  past.  On  the  memorable  17th  of  June,  1775, 
Linzee,  of  the  King's  ship-of-war  Falcon,  cannonaded  the 
14* 


162  AMORY. 

works  which  Prescott,  the  "  rebel,"  defended  ;  but  the 
granddaughter  of  the  first  was  the  wife  of  Prescott  the  his 
torian,  who  was  a  grandson  of  the  last  ;  and  this  lady  is  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  C.,  the  eldest  son  of  the  subject  of  this 
notice.  Jonathan,  the  second  son  of  our  Loyalist,  married 
Hettie,  daughter  of  James  Sullivan,  Governor  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  while  the  wife  of  John  Amory,  another  son,  was  near 
of  kin  to  Henry  Gardner,  the  "rebel,''  who  succeeded  Harri 
son  Gray,  the  last  royal  treasurer  of  the  same  State.  Again, 
Nathaniel,  still  another  son,  married  a  niece  of  our  Commo 
dore  Preble,  and  her  sister  was  the  wife  of  Admiral  Wormley 
of  the  Hoyal  Navy.  Once  more  :  William,  a  fifth  son  of  the 
Loyalist,  was  an  officer  in  the  navy  of  both  countries,  and 
under  our  own  flag  distinguished  himself  in  several  engage 
ments.  But  "  loyalty,"  as  understood  in  olden  time,  is  still 
represented  in  the  family,  by  the  union  of  Mr.  Amory's 
grandson  Charles,  with  Martha  Greene  :  and  of  his  grandson 
James  Sullivan,  with  Mary  Greene,  nieces  of  the  late  Lord 
Lyndhurst.  We  leave  this  pleasant  record  of  oblivion  of  the 
differences  of  another  age,  to  add  that  Mr.  Amory's  grand 
son,  Thomas  C.,  married  Esther  Sargent ;  and  that  William, 
of  the  same  degree  of  consanguinity,  is  the  husband  of  Anna, 
daughter  of  David  Sears,  of  Boston.  Of  the  sons  here  men 
tioned,  Thomas  C.  was  a  successful  merchant,  and  died  in 
1812  ;  Jonathan,  also  a  merchant,  died  in  1828.  Thomas 
C.  Amory,  Jr.,  also  a  descendant,  is  the  author  of  the  "  Life 
of  Governor  Sullivan,"  (his  grandfather  on  his  mother's  side,) 
in  two  vols.,  8vo. 

AMORY,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Brother  of  the  preceding. 
He  was  born  in  Boston  in  1728,  and  married  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Rufus  Greene,  by  whom  he  was  the  father  of 
nine  children,  who  grew  up  and  settled  in  his  native  town. 
-He  buik  the  house  opposite  the  Stone  Chapel,  corner  of  Tre- 
mont  and  Bowdoin  Streets,  and  lived  there,  and  in  Washing 
ton  Street  on  the  site  of  Amory  Hall.  He  engaged  exten 
sively  in  commerce  with  his  younger  brother.  The  letters 
of  his  business  house  from  1760,  during  the  Stamp  Act  excite- 


ANDERSON.  163 

merit  and  the  Tea  war,  give  many  interesting  particulars 
of  that  stirring  period.  These  letters  moreover,  predicted, 
long  before  the  war  broke  out,  a  sanguinary  contest,  and  the 
actual  separation  of  the  Colonies  from  the  mother-country, 
if  the  government  persisted  in  its  measures  of  coercion.  Parts 
of  this  correspondence  were  published  in  the  English  papers, 
and  to  one  letter  a  member  of  Parliament  ascribed  influence 
in  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  At  the  beginning  of  hostil 
ities,  his  house  owed  their  English  creditors  £23,000  sterling; 
and  while  those  who  owed  them,  from  inability,  or  taking 
advantage  of  the  times,  paid,  if  at  all,  in  a  depreciated  cur 
rency,  they  remitted  their  whole  debt  without  delay.  In 
1774  it  became  important  that  one  of  the  partners  should 
<ro  to  England.  The  subject  of  this  notice  went,  takino-  his 

t?  O  J  Z3 

wife.  Her  protracted  illness,  which  terminated  in  her  death 
in  1778,  prevented  his  return  ;  and,  considered  a  "  refugee," 
his  property  was  put  in  sequestration.  His  brother  wrote 
that,  should  the  result  be  confiscation,  he  would  share  what 
he  had  with  him.  His  sympathies,  it  is  said,  were  with  his 
countrymen  in  the  struggle  in  which  they  were  engaged  for 
their  liberties  ;  and  he  left  England  and  lived  on  the  Conti 
nent.  He  embarked  for  America  shortly  before  the  peace  ; 
but  landing  at  New  York,  then  held  by  the  British,  was  forced 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Crown,  not  being  per 
mitted  to  live  in  Boston  in  consequence  of  the  "  Banishment 
Act."  He  went,  however,  to  Providence,  where  he  remained 
until  1784,  when,  on  his  petition  to  the  Legislature  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  he  was  restored  to  the  rights  of  citizenship.  He 
died  in  1805,  leaving  a  large  estate.  One  of  his  daughters 

7  ^  i7>  ^T1 

married  John  Lowell,  widely  known  as  a  political  writer ; 
and  another  was  the  wife  of  John  McLean,  who  liberally 
endowed  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

ANDERSON,  SAMUEL.  Of  New  York.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution  he  went  to  Canada.  He  soon  entered  the 
service  of  the  Crown,  and  was  a  captain  under  Sir  John  John 
son.  In  1783  he  settled  near  Cornwall,  Upper  Canada,  and 
received  half-pay.  He  held  several  civil  offices :  those  of 


164  ANDERSON. 

magistrate,  judge  of  a  district  court,  and  associate  justice  of 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  were  among  them.  He  continued 
to  reside  upon  his  estate  near  Cornwall,  until  his  decease  in 
188G,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  one.  His  property  in 
New  York  was  abandoned  and  lost. 

ANDERSON,  WILLIAM.  Of  West  Chester  County,  New 
York.  Was  a  Protester  against  the  Whigs  at  White  Plains 
in  1775.  At  the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  four 
persons,  and  by  one  servant,  he  went  from  New  York  to 
Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted  him  fifty 
acres  of  land,  one  town  and  one  water-lot.  His  losses  in  con 
sequence  of  his  loyalty  were  estimated  at  X800.  He  re 
moved  from  Shelburne  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was 
a  grantee  of  that  city. 

ANDERSON,  PETER.  In  1782  a  Loyalist  Associator  at  New 
York,  to  settle  at  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  the  following  year. 
He  went  to  St.  John,  NewT  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of 
that  city.  He  died  at  Fredericton,  in  that  Province,  in  1828, 
at  the  ao;e  of  ninety-five. 

C>  «/ 

ANDERSON,  JOSEPH.  Lieutenant  in  the  King's  Regiment, 
New  York.  At  the  peace  he  retired  to  Canada.  He  died 
near  Cornwall,  Canada  West,  in  1858,  aged  ninety.  He 
drew  half-pay  for  a  period  of  about  seventy  years.  "  One 
of  the  last  survivors  of  the  United  Empire  Loyalists." 

ANDERSON,  JAMES.  Of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  Was  an 
Addresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775. 

December,  1775  :  —  "I  am  credibly  informed,"  wrote  Wash 
ington  to  the  president  of  Congress,  u  that  James  Anderson, 
the  consignee  and  part-owner  of  the  ship  Concord  and  cargo, 
is  not  only  unfriendly  to  American  liberty,  but  actually  in 
arms  against  us,  being  captain  of  the  Scotch  company  at  Bos 
ton."  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  was  at 
New  York  in  July,  1788,  and  one  of  the  fifty-five  who  peti 
tioned  for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia. 

ANDERSON,  CULBERT.  Of  South  Carolina.  Died  prior 
to  1785.  Estate  confiscated ;  but  two  plantations  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Ninety-Six,  restored  to  Mary  his  widow  and 
her  children,  by  act  of  the  General  Assembly. 


ANDREWS.  165 

WS,  Jonx,  D.  D.  Provost  of  tlic  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  born  in  Maryland  in  1740,  and 
educated  at  Philadelphia.  In  1707  he  was  ordained  in  Lon 
don  as  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  and  became  a  missionary  ; 
and  subsequently  a  rector  of  Queen  Ann's  County,  Mary 
land.  "  Not  partaking  of  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the  times," 
he  removed  from  Maryland,  and  was  absent  several  years. 
In  1785  he  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  an  Episcopal 
academy  at  Philadelphia,  and  four  years  after  received  the 
professorship  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  college  of  that  city. 
In  1810  he  succeeded  Doctor  McDowell  as  provost.  He 
died  in  181o,  aged  sixty-seven.  "  In  stature  he  was  tall  and 
portly,  and  his  personal  appearance  and  carriage  commanded 

respect He  was  a  fine  specimen  of -the  old  school 

gentleman  of  a  former  generation."  His  wife  deceased  in 
1798.  He  was  the  father  of  ten  children,  the  eldest  of 
whom,  Robert,  graduated  at  Philadelphia  in  1790. 

ANDREWS,  SAMUEL.  An  Episcopal  clergyman  of  Connec 
ticut.  His  principles  separated  him  from  his  flock,  and  he 
became  the  first  rector  of  the  church  of  his  communion  at 
St.  Andrew,  New  Brunswick.  After  a  ministry  of  fifty- 
eight  years,  he  died  at  that  place,  September  26,  1818,  aged 
eighty-two.  His  wife  Hannah  died  at  St.  Andrew,  January 
1,  1816,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five. 

ANDREWS,  SAMUEL.  Of  North  Carolina.  Major  in  the 
Loyal  Militia.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  he  left 
his  seat  at  Newbern,  and  took  refuge  on  board  a  ship-of-war 
at  Wilmington.  Early  in  1776  he  received  a  commission  as 
lieutenant,  served  under  General  McDonald,  and  was  taken 
prisoner.  In  1781  he  raised  a  company,  and  joined  Lqrd 
Cornwallis.  He  was  engaged  in  the  capture  of  Governor 
Burke,  and  when  Fanning  was  wounded,  he  assumed  com 
mand,  and  conducted  the  prisoners  to  the  British  lines.  Pro 
motion  followed.  At  the  evacuation  of  Charleston,  he  retired 
with  his  family  to  Florida.  Obnoxious  to  the  Whigs  by  his 
course1  during  the  war,  he  was  one  of  the  three  whom  they 
refused  to  pardon,  in  the  act  of  oblivion.  I  have  a  copy  of 


166  ANSLEY.  —  ARMSTRONG. 

his  memorial  claiming  compensation  for  bis  services  and  losses, 
in  his  own  handwriting,  by  which  it  appears  that  be  lost  by 
confiscation,  a  farm,  dwelling-bouse,  two  stores,  a  grist-mill, 
with  a  stone  bouse,  two  negroes,  fifty  bead  of  cattle,  several 
horses  and  sheep,  furniture,  &c.  He  was  at  Shelburne,  Nova 
Scotia,  in  July,  1785,  for  the  purpose  of  pressing  his  claim 
upon  the  commissioners,  "  under  very  disagreeable  circum 
stances."  Unsuccessful,  he  subsequently  employed  David 
McPherson,  London. 

ANSLEY,  OZIAS.  In  1782  he  was  an  ensign  in  the  first 
battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers,  and  adjutant  of  the 
corps.  At  the  peace  he  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and 
received  half-pay.  He  was  a  magistrate  and  a  judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas  for  several  years.  He  died  at  Staten  Island, 
New  York,  in  1828,  aged  eighty-five.  His  son,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Ansley,  an  Episcopalian  clergyman  of  Nova  Scotia, 
died  at  St.  Andrew,  New  Brunswick,  in  1831,  aged  about 
sixty-five.  His  grandson,  Daniel  Ansley,  Esq.,  (1847,)  re 
sides  at  St.  John.  His  dauo-hter  Charity,  wife  of  Nathaniel 

£}  •/    ' 

Brittain,  died  in  1848,  in  her  seventieth  year. 

ARDKN,  DOCTOR  CHARLES.  Of  Jamaica,  New  York.  In 
1775  he  was  a  signer  of  a  declaration  against  the  Whigs. 
In  1776  he  was  accused  of  further  defection  ;  and  one  of  his 
offences  consisted  in  persuading  other  adherents  of  the  Crown 
to  have  no  concern  with  a  congress  or  with  committees.  Sev- 

O 

eral  witnesses  were  examined.  He  went  to  England  before 
the  peace. 

ARMSTRONG,  WILLIAM.  He  was  a  captain  in  a  Loyalist 
corps.  At  the  peace  he  retired  on  half-pay,  and,  as  is  believed, 
settled  in  New  York.  In  1806  he  joined  the  celebrated  Mi 
randa  in  his  expedition  to  effect  the  independence  of  the  prov 
ince  of  Caraccas,  and,  in  due  time,  of  all  Spanish  America. 
Captain  Armstrong  was  known  to  possess  considerable  'military 
knowledge,  method,  industry,  and  vigilance,  and  received  a 
commission  as  colonel,  and  the  command  of  the  First  Regi 
ment  of  Riflemen  in  the  Columbian  Army  ;  and,  as  he  had 
become  familiar  with  the  duties  of  the  quartermaster's 


ARMSTRONG.  ,       167 

department,  in  the  Revolution,  lie  was  created,  also,  quarter 
master-general,  with  two  assistants.  Under  Miranda,  Colonel 
Armstrong  was  extremely  unpopular,  and  was  accused  of 
"  obsequiousness  to  his  superiors,  and  of  superciliousness  and 
tyranny  in  his  treatment  of  those  in  his  power."  He  seems 
to  have  been  involved  in  many  quarrels.  While  the  Leandcr 
was  in  the  harbor  of  Jacquemel,  (February,  1800,)  he  and 
Captain  Lewis,  the  ship's  commander,  had  a  warm  contro 
versy  regarding  their  rank  and  rights  while  associated  on  ship 
board.  The  steward's  slovenly  habits  displeased  the  former, 
and  he  gave  the  delinquent  a  u  hearty  rope's  ending,"  which 
enraged  Lewis,  and  drew  from  him  the  declaration,  that  every 
person  in  his  vessel  was  subject  to  his  authority,  and  should 
be  punished  by  no  other.  Armstrong  insisted,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  he  would  chastise  whomsoever  he  pleased.  Both 
resorted  to  great  bitterness  of  speech  in  the  war  of  words 
which  ensued.  Miranda  took  the  side  of  the  Colonel,  and 
behaved  worse  than  even  Lewis  or  Armstrong,  and,  u  before 
the  storm  was  over,  appeared  to  be  more  fit  for  bedlam  than 
for  the  command  of  an  army."  Not  long  after  this  occur 
rence,  the  Bee,  another  of  the  vessels  attached  to  the  expe 
dition,  ran  foul  of  the  flag-ship,  and  caused  considerable  dam 
age  ;  when  Armstrong,  seizing  a  trumpet,  called  to  the  master 
of  that  vessel,  and  bade  him  never  to  approach  so  near  the 
Leander  in  future.  Lewis,  angry  at  the  interference  of  the 
quarer master-general,  rebuked  him  severely  for  the  act,  and 
the  quarrel  between  them  was  renewed.  In  this  instance, 
Miranda  decided  in  favor  of  Lewis.  The  dislike  between 
the  two  officers,  who  took  so  opposite  views  of  their  right  to 
supremacy,  became  settled  and  irreconcilable,  and  a  third 
quarrel  soon  occurred,  in  which  the  chief  sustained  Arm 
strong  ;  and  Lewis,  in  the  violence  of  his  passion,  resolved 
to  resign,  and  ordered  his  servant  to  collect  his  ba<ro;no;e  and 

C")       '  £">O     £3 

prepare  to  leave  the  ship.  A  mediator  was,  however,  found, 
and  the  dispute  apparently  settled.  At  a  subsequent  time, 
Miranda  and  the  Captain  became  involved  in  a  controversy, 
and  Armstrong  endeavored  to  produce  a  reconciliation  be- 


168  ARMSTRONG. 

tween  them  ;  but  he  not  only  failed  in  this,  but  drew  upon 
himself  the  resentment  of  both.  Lewis  renewed  his  threat  to 
resign,  and  now  actually  threw  up  his  commission.  Besides 
these  quarrels,  the  Colonel  had  several  others.  The  moment 
the  Leander  cast  anchor  at  Grenada,  Lieutenant  Dwyer  quit 
ted  the  ship.  During  the  passage,  he  had  been  in  continual 
collision  with  Armstrong,  either  on  his  own  account,  or  in 
defence  of  his  officers  and  men,  whom  the  lordly  personage 
assailed  with  words  or  violence.  The  notions  of  the  Quarter 
master-General  of  the  Columbian  Army  appear  to  have  been 
not  a  little  tyrannical  and  arbitrary.  It  is  related,  that  he 
kept  three  officers  (on  very  slight  provocation),  confined  to 
the  ship's  forecastle  upwards  of  two  weeks,  and  during  this 
time  refused  them  the  liberty  of  walking  on  the  quarter-deck 
and  of  entering  the  cabin. 

Miranda  required  of  his  officers  subscription  to  the  following 
oath  :  "I  swear  to  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  free  people  of 
South  America,  independent  of  Spain,  and  to  serve  them 
honestly  and  faithfully  against  all  their  enemies  or  opposers 
whatsoever,  and  to  observe  and  obey  the  orders  of  the  supreme 
government  of  that  country  legally  appointed;  and  the  orders 
of  the  general  and  officers  set  over  me  by  them."  Some  objec 
tion  was  made  to  the  form  of  this  oath,  which  the  General 
obviated  bv  assurances  to  the  gentlemen  who  were  citizens  of 

§•  £"> 

the  United  States,  that  they  might  annex  to  their  signatures 
the  condition  that  they  did  not  intend  to  cancel  their  allegi 
ance  to  their  own  country.  After  this  difficulty  was  settled, 
Armstrong  read  and  explained  the  Articles  of  War  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  alterations  in  form,  not  in  substance 
or  spirit,  which  had  been  made  to  adapt  them  to  the  service 
in  which  they  were  engaged.  "  Notice,  gentlemen,"  said  the 
Colonel,  "  the  object  of  the  change  is  to  suit  the  wording  of 
the  Articles  to  the  local  names  and  situations  of  the  country 
where  they  are  to  take  effect.  Thus,  for  the  Army  of  the 
United  States,  will  be  substituted  the  Army  of  South  Amer 
ica  ;  and  for  the  President,  or  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
will  be  used,  the  Supreme  Authority  of  the  free  people  of 
South  America,  or  something  of  this  kind." 


ARMSTRONG.  169 

The  Americans  who  had  connected  themselves  with  this 
enterprise  were  generally  persons  of  some  ability,  but  it  is 
understood  that  most,  if  not  all  of  them,  were  in  straitened 
circumstances,  and  that  some  were  extremely  needy.  Arm 
strong's  half-pay  as  a  Loyalist  officer  might  have  prevented 
him  from  being  in  a  situation  of  destitution.  His  pay  under 
Miranda  was  fixed  at  ten  dollars  per  day,  to  commence  Jan. 
1,  1800,  which  was  the  date  of  his  commission  of  colonel. 

The  common  men,  sailors  and  soldiers  were  an  ignorant 
and  undisciplined  mob,  and  the  quartermaster-general  had 
enough  to  do  to  keep  them  quiet.  As  in  his  intercourse  with 
the  officers,  his  disputes  with  them  were  continual,  hardly  a 
day  passed  without  some  one  or  more  of  them  being  taken 
to  task  for  misconduct,  or  placed  in  arrest  and  confinement. 

The  failure  of  Miranda  to  pay  his  officers  was  a  new  source 
of  difficulty  and  contention,  and  was  a  principal  cause  of 
bringing  matters  to  a  crisis.  John  Orford,  a  lieutenant  of 
engineers,  was  especially  importunate,  and  in  answer  to  his 
second  communication  on  the  subject  of  arrearages  due  to 
him,  received  the  following  letter  :  — 

"  PORT  OF  SPAIN,  December  2d,  1806. 

"  SIR, —  By  order  of  General  Miranda,  I  have  to  inform 
you,  that  he  received  yours  of  the  twenty-ninth  ult.,  the  pur 
port  of  which  he  conceives  to  be  highly  improper,  and  con 
trary  to  every  military  principle  ;  that  in  duty  to  himself,  and 
for  the  good  of  the  service,  he  thinks  it  proper  that  you  should 
be  dismissed  from  it,  and  you  are  hereby  dismissed  from  it, 
and  no  longer  to  be  considered  as  an  officer  under  his  com 
mand." 

Other  officers  connected  with  this  ill-starred  attempt  to 
revolutionize  South  America,  applied  for  dismissals,  and  the 
defection  became  general.  Armstrong,  however,  retired  with 
out  notice  or  leave,  and  his  chief  accused  him  of  desertion. 
Departing  in  the  sloop-of-war  Hawk,  for  Dominica,  the  quar 
termaster-general  of  the  Columbian  army  took  passage  at  that 

VOL.    I.  15 


170  ARMSTRONG.  —  APTHORP. 

island  for  London.  Inferior  officers,  induced  to  believe  that 
the  desertion  of  one  so  near  Miranda's  person  gave  them  full 
liberty  to  abandon  him  in  the  same  informal  manner,  retired 
from  his  service  without  writing  letters  of  resignation,  though 
some  of  them  did  observe  that  form  in  taking  their  leave  of 
him  and  his  fortunes.  Of  Armstrong's  career  after  his  arrival 
in  England  I  have  obtained  no  information. 

O 

ARMSTRONG,  RICHARD.  Major  in  the  Queen's  Rangers. 
Entered  the  corps  as  a  captain.  He  was  one  of  the  most  effi 
cient  partisan  officers  in  service  on  the  side  of  the  Crown. 
In  1783,  he  and  Captain  Saunders  were  deputed  to  write 
Colonel  Simcoe  a  parting  address. 

APTHORP,  EAST.  An  Episcopal  clergyman  of  Massachu 
setts.  He  was  born  in  1733,  and  was  educated  in  England. 
In  1701  he  was  appointed  a  missionary  at  Cambridge,  by  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  ; 
and  during  his  labors  there,  was  engaged  in  a  warm  theologi 
cal  controversy  with  Doctor  Mayhew.  Retiring  to  England, 
he  died  there  in  1816,  aged  eighty-three  years.  His  wife  was 
a  niece  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  and  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Foster  Hutchinson.  His  only  son  was  a  clergyman.  One 
daughter  married  Doctor  Cary  ;  one,  Doctor  Butler  ;  and  a 
third,  a  son  of  Doctor  Poley  ;  —  the  husbands  of  the  two  first 
were  heads  of  colleges.  Mr.  Apthorp  was  a  distinguished 
writer.  In  1790  he  lost  his  si«;ht. 

«!!? 

APTHORP,  THOMAS  AND  WILLIAM.  Of  Boston,  Massa 
chusetts.  Both  merchants ;  were  proscribed  and  banished  in 
1778.  The  year  after,  William  came  from  New  York  to 
Boston  to  solicit  the  mercy  of  his  countrymen,  and  occupied 
for  awhile  a  private  room  in  the  deputy  jailer's  house  ;  but 
letters  were  received  to  his  disadvantage,  and  he  was  commit 
ted  to  close  prison  by  order  of  the  Council. 

APTHORP,  CHARLES  WARD.  Of  New  York.  He  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Council  of  that  Colony  in  1763, 
and  served  until  1783.  He  had  lands  in  Maine,  and  property 
in  Brookline  and  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  which  were  con 
fiscated.  He  died  at  his  seat,  Bloomingdale,  in  1797. 


ARNOLD.  171 

ARNOLD,  MARGARET.  Daughter  of  Edward  Shippen, 
Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  and  second  wife  of  General 
Benedict  Arnold.  Born  in  1760,  or  in  the  year  following  ;  — 
died  in  London  in  1804,  in  her  forty-fourth  year.  She  was 
very  beautiful,  and,  it  would  seem,  very  ambitious.  By  her 
father,  her  relatives,  and  her  circle  of  friends,  she  was  dearly 
loved.  She  appeared  with  her  knight  at  the  gorgeous  fete,  or 
mischianza*  in  honor  of  Sir  William  Howe,  on  his  return  to 
England.  British  and  American  officers  admired  her.  The 
ill-fated  Andre  visited  her  often  while  he  was  stationed  in 
Philadelphia,  and  was  a  correspondent  after  the  Royal  Army 
retired  to  New  York.  By  some  she  was  thought  frivolous, 
vain,  and  artful  ;  but  I  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the 
truth.  To  the  additional  fault  charged  —  "  extravagance" 
she  may  be  held  amenable,  since  her  father  wrote  in  Decem 
ber,  1778,  that,  "  the  style  of  life  his  fashionable  daughters  had 
introduced  into  his  family,"  and  "  their  dress,"  were  obstacles 
to  his  remaining  in  Philadelphia.  Margaret  was  the  youngest. 
Though  her  marriage  followed  in  less  than  four  months,  her 
hand,  I  conclude,  was  not  promised  ;  for  it  said  in  the  same 
letter  that,  while  she  was  "  much  solicited  bv  a  certain  o;en- 

*J  <7"> 

eral,"  the  consummation  of  the  proposed  union  "  depended 
upon  circumstances."  As  a  maiden,  she  was  happy.  As  a 
wife,  she  bore  great  trials  and  many  sorrows.  Her  name 
appears  here,  because  the  third  Vice-President  of  the  United 

1  Much  has  been  inferred  against  Mrs.  Arnold  because  of  her  acquaint 
ance  with  Andre  before  her  marriage,  and  because  he  —  honoring  her 
above  all  others  —  was  her  knight  at  this  the  great  fete  of  the  Royal  Army 
of  the  Revolution.  Fortunately,  there  is  conclusive  evidence  that  on  this 
occasion  he  gave  his  attentions  to  another  lady.  I  have  a  copy  of  a  long 
and  minute  account  of  the  "  mischianza"  written  by  Andre  himself.  Lord 
Cathcart  appeared  in  honor  of  Miss  Auchmuty.  The  knights  were  of 
two  Orders:  the  "Blended  Rose,"  and  the  "Burning  Mountain."  An 
dre  was  the  third  of  the  former.  These  are  his  own  words,  —  "  Captain 
Andre,  in  honor  of  Misx  P.  Chew  —  Squire,  Lieut.  Andre  ;  Device,  two 
game-cocks  ;  Motto,  No  rival." 

The  knight  of  Margaret  Shippen,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  Lieu 
tenant  Sloper,  of  the  "  Blended  Rose."  The  knights  of  the  two  other 
Misses  Shippen,  were  Lieutenants  Underwood  and  Winyard. 


172  ARNOLD. 

States  accused  that  she  instigated  one  of  the  startling  crimes 
in  history. 

The  first  husband  uttered  of  the  first  wife  —  u  The  woman, 
whom  thou  gavest  to  be  with  me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree, 
and  I  did  eat.''  So,  if  we  are  to  believe  Aaron  Burr,  the 
principal  miscreant  of  the  American  Revolution  could  have 
said,  "  Margaret  my  wife,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree  of  treason, 
and  I  did  eat." 

A  gentleman  may,  if  he  will,  pass  lightly  over  the  sins  of 
a  lady,  because  of  his  sympathy  for  the  innocent  of  her  lin 
eage  ;  but,  I  purpose  to  examine  the  accusation  against  this 
unfortunate  wife  with  care,  and  to  determine  the  case  upon 
the  probabilities  and  the  evidence.  There  is  no  testimony, 
as  far  as  I  know,  except  her  own  alleged  confession,  in  the 
presence  of  two  persons.  According  to  Davis,  she  told  Mrs. 
Prevost  that  "  she  was  heartily  sick  of  the  theatricals  she 
was  exhibiting  ;  "  that  "  she  was  disgusted  with  the  American 
cause,  and  those  who  had  the  management  of  public  affairs  ; 
and  that,  through  great  persuasion  and  unceasing  perseve 
rance,  she  had  ultimately  brought  the  General  into  an  ar- 
ran^ement  to  surrender  West  Point  to  the  British."  Parton, 

O  ' 

the  latest  biographer  of  Burr,  is  more  particular.  lie  relates, 
that  one  evening  while  Burr  was  at  Mrs.  Prevost's,  a  lady 
veiled  and  attired  in  a  riding-habit,  burst  into  the  room,  and, 
after  assurance  of  her  safety,  exclaimed  —  "  Thank  God  ! 
I  've  been  playing  the  hypocrite,  and  I'm  tired  of  it."  lie 
relates  further,  that  Mrs.  Arnold  gave  an  account  of  the  way 
she  had  deceived  Washington,  Hamilton,  and  others  at  West 
Point,  who  believed  her  innocent  of  the  treason  ;  that  she 
avowed  participation  in  the  negotiations  with  the  enemy,  and 
"induced  her  husband  to  do  what  he  had  done;  "  and  that, 
while  at  Mrs.  Prevost's,  she  took  "  care  to  resume  her  acting 
of  the  outraged  and  frantic  woman,  whenever  strangers  were 

<""">  C7> 

present."    —  Such  are  the  material  points. 

The  falsehood  of  Burr's  story  is  apparent  at  once.  For 
to  believe  it,  is  also  to  believe  that  a  woman,  who,  not  nine- 
teen  years  old  when  her  husband  opened  the  correspondence 


ARNOLD.  173 

with  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  was  able  and  wise  enough  to  herself 
conceive  and  to  assist  in  executing  a  great,  possibly  to  the 
Whig  cause,  a  decisive,  military  crime  ;  and  was  yet  such  an 
utter  fool,  as,  while  the  country  was  ringing  with  the  cry  of 
"  Treason  !  Treason  !  "'  to  needlessly,  boastingly  confess  her 
guilt  in  the  presence  of  a  Whig  officer,  who,  in  the  perform 
ance  of  a  common  duty,  would  have  arrested  her  at  the 
instant.  IIo\v  absurd ;  surpassing  intellectual  strength  and 
pitiable  mental  weakness  in  the  same  character!  Burr  told 
too  much  ;  and  his  lie  drops  apart  by  the  very  weight  of  its 
contradictions. 

She  had  "deceived"  Washington  and  Hamilton.  Did 
Burr,  in  his  malignity,  mean  to  strike  at  the  sagacity  of  both  ? 
lie  disliked  the  first ;  and  thus  early  did  he  hate  the  man  he 
afterwards  slew.  And,  what  was  the  deception  ?  "  Arnold, 
a  moment  before  the  setting  out,"  wrote  Hamilton  to  Colonel 
Laurens,  went  to  the  apartment  of  his  wife,  "  and  informed 
her  that  some  transactions  had  just  come  to  light  which  must 
forever  banish  him  from  his  country.  She  fell  into  a  swoon 
at  this  declaration,  and  he  left  her  in  it  to  consult  his  own 
safety,  till  the  servants,  alarmed  by  her  cries,  came  to  her 
relief.  She  remained  frantic  all  day,  accusing  every  one  who 
approached  her  with  an  intention  to  murder  her  child  (an 
infant  in  her  arms)  ;  and  exhibiting  every  other  mark  of  the 
most  genuine  and  agonizing  distress.  Exhausted  by  the  fatigue 
and  tumult  of  her  spirits,  her  frenzy  subsided  towards  evening, 
and  she  sank  into  all  the  sadness  of  affliction.  It  was  impos 
sible  not  to  have  been  touched  with  her  situation.  Every 
thing  affecting  in  female  tears,  or  in  the  misfortunes  of  beauty  ; 
everything  pathetic  in  the  wounded  tenderness  of  a  wife,  or 
in  the  apprehensive  fondness  of  a  mother  ;  and,  I  will  add, 
till  I  have  reason  to  change  the  opinion,  everything  amiable 
in  the  sufferings  of  innocence  ;  conspired  to  make  her  an 
object  of  sympathy  to  all  who  were  present.  She  experienced 
the  most  delicate  attention,  and  every  friendly  office,  till  her 
departure  for  Philadelphia." 

Again,  in  a  letter  to  his  future  wife,  Hamilton  said,  that 
15* 


174  ARNOLD. 

Mrs.  Arnold,  "  for  a  considerable  time,  entirely  lost  herself. 
The  General  (Washington)  went  up  to  see  her,  and  she 
upbraided  him  with  being  in  a  plot  to  murder  her  child.  One 
moment  she  raved,  another  she  melted  into  tears.  Sometimes 
she  pressed  her  infant  to  her  bosom,  and  lamented  its  fate, 

in  a  manner  that  would  have  pierced  insensibility 

itself.  All  the  sweetness  of  beauty,  all  the  loveliness  of  inno 
cence,  all  the  tenderness  of  a  wife,  and  all  the  fondness  of  a 
mother,  showed  themselves  in  her  appearance  and  conduct. 
We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  she  was  entirely  unac 
quainted  with  the  plan  ;  and  that  the  first  knowledge  of  it 
was  when  Arnold  went  to  tell  her  he  must  banish  himself 
from  his  country  and  from  her  forever.  She  instantly  fell 
into  a  convulsion,  and  he  left  her  in  that  situation." 

Parton,  in  commenting  upon  the  letter  to  Laurens,  remarks, 
that  the  Aid  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  gave  "  the  romantic 
falsehood  of  the  affair,"  and,  in  "  love,"  was  full  of  tenderness 
to  woman  ;  and  that  "  it  fell  to  Burr's  lot  to  become  ac 
quainted  with  the  repulsive  truth."  The  reply  is,  that,  Wash 
ington  was  not  in  "  love  ;  "  nor,  as  Parton  says  of  Hamilton, 
was  he  "  a  young  gentleman  of  rhetorical  tarn;  "  and  it  is  quite 
probable  that  some  of  "  the  other  American  officers,"  who 
were  also  "  deceived,"  were  married,  and  of  mature  years. 
Besides,  —  as  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  this  inquiry,  — 
Mrs.  Arnold's  physical  organization  was  somewhat  peculiar  ; 
and,  at  times,  she  lost  entire  control  of  her  lips,  just  as  she 
did  on  the  distressing  occasion  under  consideration.  A  Ger 
man  dramatist  has  the  beautiful  sentiment  that,  "  a  mother 
with  an  infant  in  her  arms,  has  nature's  passport  through  the 
world."  If  this  deserted  wife,  in  her  agony,  felt  and  uttered 
that  her  child  was  without  this  "  passport,"  and  was  to  full 
a  victim  to  its  father's  wickedness,  —  constituted  as  she  was  — 
who  can  wonder  ?  The  very  idea  of  "  playing  the  hypocrite," 
at  such  a  moment,  is  monstrous.  "  Theatricals,"  in  a  mother, 
when  her  husband  disgraces  and  abandons  her  ! 

Mrs.   Arnold  was  bred   a   gentlewoman  ;    and,    so   young, 
was  she  so  fallen,  so  fertile  in  the  resources  of  sin  ;   was  she 


ARNOLD.  175 

so  destitute  of  the  feelings  of  her  sex,  as  to  act  a  part  ?  With 
the  grave,  penetrating  eye  of  Washington  upon  her,  did  she 
dare  to  play  the  "  hypocrite  "  so  far  as  to  upbraid  him,  and 
to  declare  that  he  was  "in  a  plot  to  murder  her  child?" 
Impossible!  "Theatricals"  -in  the  presence  of  the  illus 
trious  man  who  only  six  months  before  had  written  his  con 
gratulations1  on  the  birth  of  Edward  Shippen  Arnold  —  this 
very  babe  !  Would  Burr  have  us  believe  that  the  daughter 

O 

of  Chief  Justice  Shippen  had  less  affection  for  her  young, 
than  is  manifested  by  the  bird  and  the  beast,  for  the  fledgling 
and  the  lamb  ? 

Again,  Arnold  himself  acquitted  her  of  all  complicity  in 
his  crime.  "The  mistaken  vengeance  of  my  countrymen," 
he  said  in  a  letter  to  Washington  after  the  treason,  "  ought 
to  fall  only  on  me.  She  is  as  good  and  innocent  as  an 
angel,  and  is  incapable  of  doing  wrong."  The  declaration 
of  a  criminal  is  not  evidence,  I  well  know,  unless  corroborated. 
Major  Franks,  who  is  a  competent  witness,  confirms  the  state 
ment.  He  was  an  Aid  ;  and,  because  he  was  charged  with 
the  particular  duty  of  attending  her,  was  laughingly  called 
-  "  the  nurse."  When  asked  by  a  lady  to  express  his  opin 
ion  concerning  her  knowledge  of  her  husband's  plans,  he 
replied,  —  "  Madam,  she  knew  nothing  of  them  —  nothing  ! 
She  was  ignorant  of  them  as  a  babe."  And  further,  Arnold 
could  not  venture  to  trust  her,  because,  "  she  was  subject  to 
occasional  paroxysms  of  physical  indisposition,  attended  by 
nervous  debility,  during  which  she  would  give  utterance  to 
anything  and  everything  in  her  mind  ;  "  and  this  "  was  a  fact 
well  known  amongst  us  of  the  General's  family,  so  much  so 
as  to  cause  us  to  be  scrupulous  of  what  was  told  her  or  said 
within  her  hearing."  I  submit  with  confidence,  that  Major 
Franks,  in  these  few  words,  explains  Mrs.  Arnold's  mental 
condition,  as  stated  by  Hamilton  ;  for  any  proud,  well-bred, 

1  Arnold  had  announced  the  birth  ;  and  the  Commander-in-Chief,  at 
the  close  of  a  letter  dated  at  Morristown,  March  '28,  1  780,  said  in  reply, 
—  "  Let  me  congratulate  you  on  the  late  happy  event.  Mrs.  Washington 
joins  me  in  presenting  her  wishes  for  Mrs.  Arnold  on  the  occasion." 


176  ARNOLD. 

sensitive  woman,  with  a  constitutional  tendency  to  "  parox 
ysms  "  and  u  nervous  debility,"  would  do  much,  if  not  pre 
cisely  as  she  did,  when  informed  of  her  own  ruined  hopes  in 
life,  and  that  the  author  of  her  woes  must  fly  to  save  his  life. 

Again  :  as  soon  as  the  traitor  was  safe  on  board  of  the 
Yuliure,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Washington,  in  which  he 
asserts  his  wife's  innocence,  and  uses  these  significant  words  : 
"  I  beg  she  may  be  permitted  to  return  to  her  friends  in  Phil 
adelphia,  or  to  come  to  me,  as  she  may  choose."  Mark  the 
order  of  thought.  If  she  was  the  partner,  nay,  the  author  of 
his  crime,  he  would  not  have  suggested  the  possibility  of  a 
separation  ;  but  doubt  was  predominant  in  his  mind,  and 
he  expressed  himself  accordingly.  This  is  of  moment,  since 
nature  and  observation  teach  that,  husband  and  wife,  when 
guilty  of  the  same  sin,  cling  to  one  another  as  by  a  new  vow, 
and  as  closely  as  did  the  pair  who  were  expelled  from  Eden. 
Mrs.  Arnold's  decision  wTas  free  ;  and,  if  principal  or  accom 
plice,  the  laws  of  her  being  would  have  impelled  her  to  renew 
the  relations  which  legally  existed  between  herself  and  the 
father  of  her  child.  But  the  bond  was  broken  ;  and,  under 
an  escort  of  horse,  with  the  protection  of  a  flag,  she  departed 
from  West  Point  for  the  parental  roof. 

I  conclude  here  the  circumstantial  part  of  her  case.  The 
allegation  of  the  third  Vice-President  of  the  United  States 
concerns  common  girlhood,  common  wifehood,  and  universal 
motherhood  ;  hence  the  time  bestowed  upon  it.  In  my  judg 
ment,  the  subject  of  this  notice  should  be  acquitted.  The 
probabilities  are  all  in  her  favor,  and  there  is  no  evidence 
against  her.  Indeed,  more  ;  dates  and  facts  prove  her  entire 
innocence. 

Her  husband  began  to  complain  of  the  "  ingratitude  "  of 
his  country  as  early  as  February,  1777,  before  he  ever  saw  her, 
and  more  than  two  years  before  he  married  her  ;  and,  from  that 
time  down  to  the  discovery  of  his  crime,  in  September,  1780, 
he  was  continually  quarrelling  with  individuals,  or  State 
authorities,  or  members  of  Congress,  or  officers  in  the  army. 
In  a  word,  before  his  second  marriage,  (April  8,  1779,)  his 


ARNOLD.  177 

clamor  about  his  "  wrongs,"'  his  importunities  for  "  redress," 
his  questionable  business  and  pecuniary  transactions,  together 
with  his  arrogance,  had  disgusted  his  enemies,  and  exhausted 
the  patience  of  those  who  labored  earnestly  and  sincerely  to 
relieve  his  embarrassments,  to  appease  his  anger,  and  to  do 
him  more  than  justice.  Benedict  Arnold,  mentally,  morally, 
betrayed  his  country,  while  his  wife  was  a  maiden.  The 
Loyalists  seem  to  have  known  his  true  character  far  better 
than  the  Whigs  ;  and  to  have  supposed  that  he  favored  them 
long  previous  to  his  overt  treason.  There  is  proof  of  this  in 
the  private  correspondence  of  Galloway,  the  leading  Loyalist 
of  Pennsylvania.  Thus  Charles  Stewart  wrote,  December 
17,  1778  :  "  General  Arnold  is  in  Philadelphia.  It  is  said  that 
he  will  be  discharged,  being  thought  a  pert  Tory.  Certain  it 
is,  that  he  associates  mostly  ivith  these  people,  and  is  to  be  mar 
ried  to  Miss  Shippen,"  &c.  David  Sproat,  in  a  letter  dated 
January  11,  1779,  remarked  —  "  You  will  hear  that  General 
Arnold,  commandant  in  Philadelphia,  has  behaved  with  lenity 
to  the  Tories,  and  that  he  is  on  the  eve  of  marriage  to  one  of 
Edward  Shippen's  daughters." 

I  pass  to  the  distinct  question  of  Burr's  veracity.  There 
are  so  many  victims  to  prejudice,  to  persecution  in  our  history, 
that,  when  I  began  to  trace  his  strange  career,  I  was  prepared 
to  find  him  one  of  them.  But  I  incline  to  the  opinion  now, 
that  his  life  was  a  long,  an  unbroken  lie  ;  for  I  own  my  in 
ability  to  determine,  when,  and  under  what  circumstance,  I 
can  put  faith  in  a  man  who  averred,  as  he  did,  that  he  never 
so  much  as  wished  harm  to  any  human  being  ;  that  he  never 
did,  said,  or  wrote  anything  to  throw  a  cloud  over  any  woman's 
name  ;  and  that  no  woman  could  lay  her  ruin  to  him.  In 
the  eighty-three  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  alleged 
eager,  imprudent  boasting  of  Mrs.  Arnold  at  Mrs.  Prevost's, 
hundreds  of  volumes  of  biography  and  correspondence  of  the 
Revolutionary  era  have  been  published  ;  but,  as  far  as  my 
knowledge  extends,  not  one  of  them  contains  a  syllable  to 
corroborate  Burr's  story,  or  in  any  way  to  implicate  the  sub 
ject  of  this  notice.  Nor  is  this  all.  When  I  mingled  with 


178  ARNOLD. 

Loyalist  families  in  the  British  Colonies,  Arnold  himself,  the 
beauty,  character,  and  fate  of  his  wife,  were  among  the  favor 
ite  topics  of  conversation.  Gentlemen  of  the  lineage  of  the 
Colonel,  who  went  up  the  Hudson  in  the  Vulture  with  Andre* 
and  other  well-informed  persons,  never  once  suggested  that 
by  tradition,  even,  Mrs.  Arnold  was  involved  in  the  treason. 

My  purpose  is  accomplished.  I  have  attempted  the  vindi 
cation  of  the  second  wife  of  Benedict  Arnold,  simply  as  a 
duty  to  her  and  to  her  sex.  The  stain  of  descent  from  him, 
from  a  man,  who,  in  trade  was  a  vulgar,  dishonest  horse- 
jockey  and  cattle-dealer,  and  who,  as  a  military  officer,  was 
false  to  his  duty  ;  this,  this,  her  children's  children  must  bear. 

I  hasten  to  complete  this  article,  which  is  already  too  long 
for  the  limits  of  this  work.  When  she  stopped  at  Mrs.  Pre- 
vost's,  she  was  on  her  way  from  West  Point  to  Philadelphia. 
She  never  meant  to  see  her  husband  again.  On  her  arrival 
at  her  father's  house  she  was  treated  with  the  utmost  kindness, 
nor  were  the  endeavors  to  soothe  her  anguish  bv  affectionate 

O  t/ 

attentions,  entirely  lost  ;  but  new  sorrows  awaited  her.  On 
the  27th  of  October,  1780,  the  Executive  Council  of  Penn 
sylvania  issued  an  order  commanding  her  to  depart  the  State 
within  fourteen  days  from  that  date,  and  not  to  return  during 
the  war.  Her  father  and  others  sought  to  avert  this  decree 
of  exile.  The  representation  that  she  had  resolved  to  separate 
from  the  man  who  had  destroyed  her  happiness  ;  the  pledge  of 
her  word  that  she  would  hold  no  correspondence  with  him  ;  the 
promise  of  every  security  for  her  good  conduct,  were  disre 
garded  ;  and  on  the  9th  of  November  she  obeyed  the  edict  of 
banishment.  At  the  peace,  she  again  thought  of  leaving  her 
husband ;  but  concluded,  finally,  to  follow  him  to  Newr  Bruns 
wick.  The  Loyalists  who  went  to  that  Province  in  1783, 
lived,  at  first,  in  log  or  rough-board  huts.  The  country  wras 
an  unbroken  wilderness ;  and  bears  sometimes  came  to  the 
very  doors  of  these  rude  dwellings.  Arnold  was  among  those 
who  soon  built  frame-houses,  and  secured  many  of  the  com 
forts  of  civilized  life.  Within  the  traitor's  home  there,  within 
his  home  in  England,  was  a  sad,  a  stricken  woman.  "  Her 


ARNOLD.  179 

heart  was  broken."  She  came  once  to  her  native  land.  Her 
visit  is  mentioned  in  a  letter  dated  at  Philadelphia,  in  Jan 
uary,  1790.  The  writer  remarks,  that  she  had  been  there  six 
months,  and  intended  to  stay  the  remainder  of  the  winter  ; 
that  "  she  is  handsome,  and  a  woman  ;  "  that  out  of  respect 
to  her  family,  many  warm  Whigs  had  been  to  see  her,  though 
the  common  opinion  was,  that,  as  her  presence  placed  her 
friends  in  a  painful  position,  she  would  have  shown  more 
feeling  by  staying  away.  I  learn  from  another  source,  that 
she  was  treated  with  so  much  coldness  and  neglect,  even  by 
those  who  had  most  encouraged  her  ill-starred  marriage,  that 
her  feelings  were  continually  wounded.  —  "She  never  could 
come  again." 

Her  portrait  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  is  (1855)  in  the 
possession  of  the  Misses  Mcllvaine,  Philadelphia.  That  she 
was  very  beautiful,  is  said  by  all  who  speak  of  her.  Accounts 
differ  as  to  the  time  and  place  of  her  decease  ;  the  English 
and  correct  record  is,  that  she  died  in  1804,  in  Bryanstone 
Street,  Portman  Square,  London,  in  her  forty-fourth  year. 
Her  sisters  w^ould  have  brought  her  younger  children  to 
America,  —  wisely  enough  was  the  offer  declined.  The  story 
of  Margaret  Shippen  has  a  moral  for  maidens ;  she  married 
against  the  wish,  the  judgment,  of  a  fond,  of  a  devoted  father. 

Mrs.  Arnold  was  the  mother  of  four  sons  and  one  daughter : 
namely,  Edward  Shippen,  who  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Ben 
gal  Cavalry,  and  paymaster  of  Mattra,  and  who  died  in  India, 
in  1813  ;  James  Robertson,  of  whom  presently;  George,  wrho 
was  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Bengal  Cavalry,  and  who  died 
in  India  in  1828  ;  William  Fitch,  wrho,  a  magistrate  in  the 
County  of  Bucks,  England,  and  late  a  captain  in  the  Lancers, 
married  the  only  daughter  of  Captain  Ruddach,  of  the  Royal 
Navy  ;  and  who,  the  father  of  six  children,  was  living  in  1855  ; 
and  Sophia  Matilda,  the  wife  of  Colonel  Pownall  Phipps,  of 
the  East  India  Company  Service,  who  was  also  living  eight 
years  ago,  and  the  mother  of  one  son  and  two  daughters. 

A  word  in  conclusion,  of  the  most  distinguished  son.  James 
Robertson  Arnold  entered  the  corps  of  Royal  Engineers  in 


180  ARNOLD. 

1798.  He  served  two  years  at  Bermuda,  and  from  1818  to 
1823,  commanded  the  Engineers  in  Nova  Scotia  and  New 
Brunswick.  After  the  accession  of  William  IV.  he  was  one 
of  his  Majesty's  aids.  While  in  the  Provinces  just  named,  he 
visited  his  father's  house,  —  King  Street,  St.  John,  —  and,  as 
I  have  often  been  told,  "threw  himself  into  a  chair,  and  wept 
like  a  child."  He  expressed  a  wish  to  see  his  mother's  family 
in  the  United  States;  but  added,  —  UI  suppose  I  should  be 
insulted  on  account  of  my  father,"  &c.  A  gentleman  who 
was  in  service  with  him,  and  an  intimate  acquaintance,  speaks 
•  of  him  in  terms  of  high  commendation  ;  and  relates  that  he 
was  a  small  man,  with  eyes  of  remarkable  sharpness,  and  in 
features  thought  to  resemble  his  father.  His  wife  was  Vir 
ginia,  daughter  of  Bartlett  Goodrich,  of  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
.In  1841,  he  was  transferred  from  the  Engineers,  and  appointed 
Jra  Major-General,  and  a  Knight  of  the  Hanoverian  Guelphic 
Order.  He  died  in  London,  December,  1852. 

ARNOLD,  BENEDICT.  Of  Connecticut.  Major-General  in 
the  Continental  Army.  Nothing  need  be  said  in  these  vol 
umes  of  a  man  whose  life  and  infamy  are  so  universally  known. 
A  word,  however,  of  his  private  character,  in  further  vindi 
cation  of  Margaret,  his  second  wife.  He  was  descended  from 
the  Arnolds  of  Rhode  Island,  an  honorable  family,  who  for  a 
long  period  figured  in  the  public  affairs  of  that  Colony.  He 
was  bred  an  apothecary,  and  from  1763  to  1767  was  settled 
at  New  Haven,  as  a  druggist  and  bookseller.  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  that  he  was  a  finished  scoundrel  from  early  man 
hood  to  his  grave.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  he  had  any  real 
and  true  hearted  attachment  to  the  Whig  cause.  He  fought 
as  a  mere  adventurer,  and  took  sides  from  a  calculation  of  per 
sonal  gain,  and  chances  of  plunder  and  advancement. 

No  honorable  man  would  have  formed  a  copartnership  with 
others  for  purchasing  goods  within  the  enemy's  lines  as  he 
did,  and  to  the  enormous  amount  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  dollars.  And  no  honest  man  would  have  lived, 
could  have  lived  as  he  did,  while  at  Philadelphia.  His  play, 
his  balls,  his  concerts,  his  banquets,  were  enough  to  have 


ARNOLD.  181 

impaired  the  fortune  of  an  European  noble.  His  house  was 
the  best  in  the  city,  and  had  been  the  mansion  of  Perm,  the 
last  royal  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  descendant  of 
the  illustrious  founder  of  the  Colony.  This  dwelling  he  fur 
nished  magnificently,  kept  his  coaeh-and-four,  and  a  numerous 
retinue  of  servants,  and  indulged  in  every  kind  of  luxury, 
and  ostentatious  and  vain  profusion  and  display. 

But  Arnold  should  have  the  benefit  of  every  circumstance 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  any,  can  lessen  or  palliate  his  guilt. 
Beyond  all  doubt,  then,  Congress  treated  him  unjustly.  If 
his  case  had  never  been  submitted  to  that  body,  or  if  it  had 
been  examined  and  disposed  of  by  Washington,  it  is  certainly 
possible  that  his  career  might  have  terminated  far  less  dishon 
orably. 

He  was  made  a  brigadier-general  in  the  British  service, 
and  received  a  large  amount  of  gold  to  cover  his  alleged  losses 
in  deserting  the  standard  of  his  country.  After  he  went  to 
England,  Mr.  Van  Schaack,  a  New  York  Loyalist,  who  was 
also  there,  paid  a  visit  to  Westminster  Abbey.  "  His  mus 
ings  were  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of  a  gentleman  accom 
panied  by  a  lady.  It  was  General  Arnold,  and  the  lady  was 
doubtless  Mrs.  Arnold.  They  passed  to  the  cenotaph  of  Major 
Andre,  where  they  stood  and  conversed  together.  What  a 
spectacle  !  The  traitor  Arnold  in  Westminster  Abbey,  at 
the  tomb  of  Andre,  deliberately  perusing  the  monumental 
inscription  which  will  transmit  to  future  ages  the  tale  of  his 
own  infamy.  The  scene,  with  the  associations  which  nat 
urally  crowded  upon  the  mind,  was  calculated  to  excite  vari 
ous  emotions  in  an  American  bosom ;  and  Mr.  Van  Schaack 
turned  from  it  with  disgust." 

From  the  conclusion  of  the  war  till  his  death,  Arnold  re 
sided  chiefly  in  England  ;  but  for  a  while  he  was  engaged  in 
trade  and  navigation  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  He  was 
disliked,  was  unpopular,  and  even  hated  at  St.  John.  [See 
Elias  Hardy  and  Alpheus  Pine,  in  this  work,  for  illustra 
tion.]  Persons  of  that  city  still  relate  instances  of  his  perfidy 
and  meanness.  George  Gilbert,  Esquire,  (a  son  of  Bradford 

VOL.    I.  16 


182  ARNOLD. 

Gilbert,  who  was  a  Massachusetts  Loyalist,)  has  now  (Au 
gust,  1846,)  twelve  chairs  which  are  called  the  "  Traitor's 
Chairs,"  and  which  were  carried  from  England  to  St.  John 
bv  Arnold.  When  he  removed  from  New  Brunswick  he  sold 
them  to  the  first  Judge  Chipman,  who,  after  keeping  them 
some  vears,  sold  them  to  their  present  possessor.  They  are 
of  a  French  pattern,  are  large,  and  covered  with  blue-figured 
damask  :  the  wood-work  is  white,  highly  polished  or  enam 
elled,  and  striped  with  gold. 

The  Lord  Sheffield,  the  first  ship  built  in  New  Brunswick, 
came  over  the  falls  of  the  River  St.  John,  in  June,  1786.  The 
current  story  in  that  Province  is,  that  the  builder  was  unable 
to  purchase  the  necessary  sails  and  rigging,  and  that  Arnold 
became  the  owner  —  by  fraud. 

He  died  in  London,  June  14,  1.801.  The  following  brief 
notice  appeared  in  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine:  " — "  At  his 
house  in  Gloucester  Place,  Brigadier-General  Arnold.  His 
remains  were  interred  on  the  21st,  at  Brompton.  Seven 
mourning-coaches  and  four  state-coaches  formed  the  caval 
cade." 

His  first  wife  bore  him,  —  Benedict,  who  was  an  officer  of 
artillery  in  the  British  Army,  who,  it  is  believed,  was  com 
pelled  to  quit  the  service,  and  who  died  young  in  the 
West  Indies  ;  and  Richard  and  Henry,  of  whom  presently. 
The  names  of  five  other  children  appear  in  the  preceding 
notice. 

"  We  "  (the  English  nation),  said  the  '  London  Times,',  in 
1850,  "  are  actually  this  moment  supporting,  out  of  the  public 
funds,  the  descendants  of  Arnold  the  American  traitor." 

It  may  be  added  that  General  Arnold's  mother  had  six 
children,  of  whom  he  and  his  sister  Hannah  alone  lived  to 
the  years  of  maturity.  This  sister  adhered  to  her  brother 
Benedict  throughout  his  eventful  and  miiltv  career,  and  was 

£5  O  J 

true  to  him  in  the  darkest  periods  of  his  history.  She  died 
at  Montague  in  Upper  Canada  in  1803,  and  was,  as  is  uni 
formly  stated,  a  lady  of  excellent  character.  She  was  accom 
plished,  pleasing  in  person,  witty  and  affable.  She  loved,  but 


ARNOLD.  183 

at  the  bidding  of  her  brother,  broke  off  the  engagement.  She 
never  married. 

In  1852  the  newspapers  announced  the  decease  at  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  of  Elizabeth  Arnold,  cousin  of  the  TRAITOR,  and 
the  last  of  his  kindred  in  that  vicinity.  Her  age  was  ninety- 
two.  She  was  carried  to  the  poor-house  at  her  own  request, 
and  died  there. 

ARNOLD,  HENRY.  A  son  of  General  Arnold  by  his  first 
marriage.  He  entered  the  king's  service  after  his  father's 
defection,  and  was  a  lieutenant  of  cavalry  in  the  American 
Legion.  He  accompanied  his  father  to  St.  John,  and  was 
employed  in  his  business.  He  slept  in  the  warehouse  near 
Lower  Cove  in  that  city,  and  lodged  there  the  night  the 
building  was  burned.  He  lived  afterwards  at  Troy,  New 
York,  with  his  aunt  Hannah,  and  was  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits.  At  a  subsequent  period,  he  removed  to  Canada, 
where,  in  1829,  he  was  a  man  of  property.  He  received 
half-pay,  and  a  grant  of  lands  from  the  British  government. 

ARNOLD,  RICHARD.  Brother  of  Henry.  In  1782  he  was 
also  a  lieutenant  of  cavalry  in  the  American  Legion,  com 
manded  by  his  father.  In  every  particular  his  history,  down 
to  the  year  1829,  is  identical  with  that  of  his  brother  Henry, 
and  need  not,  therefore,  be  repeated.  Persons  are  still  living 
at  St.  John,  who  resided  there  when  General  Arnold's  store 
was  burned.  The  impression  was,  at  the  moment,  and  still 
is,  that  the  fire  was  caused  by  design,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
defrauding  a  company  in  England,  that  had  underwritten 
upon  the  merchandise  which  it  contained,  to  an  amount  far 
exceeding  its  worth.1  These  persons  differ  as  to  the  fact, 
whether  Arnold  himself  was  at  St.  John,  or  absent  in  Eng 
land,  at  the  time  of  the  fire  ;  and  hence,  the  degree  of  blame 
which  should  be  attached  to  the  two  sons  may  be  uncertain. 

1  The  story  as  first  told  was  as  follows:  —  "  We  learn  from  Nova  Scotia, 
that  the  highest  suspicion  prevails  there,  that  the  infamous  traitor,  Bene 
dict  Arnold,  set  fire  to  his  own  house,  (store,)  having  previously  effected 
an  insurance  in  London  upon  it,  to  a  much  larger  amount  than  the  real 
value  of  his  property  "-—Newport  Herald  of  September  11,  1788. 


184  ARNOLD.  —  ASHLEY. 

That  both  Henry  and  Richard  slept  in  the  store  on  the  night 
of  the  conflagration,  and  that  neither  could  give  a  satisfactory 
account  of  its  cause,  seems,  however,  to  be  certain. 

ARNOLD,  OLIVER.  Of  Connecticut.  He  was  born  in  that 
State,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College,  in  1776.  He  went  to 
St.  John  at  the  peace,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  that 
city.  Having  labored  some  years  as  an  Episcopal  missionary, 
he  was  inducted  into  office  as  Rector  of  Sussex,  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  finished  his  course  in  that  capacity  in  1834,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-nine.  He  was  ardently  attached  to  the  Epis 
copal  Church,  and  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  man.  In 
domestic  life  he  was  peculiarly  kind  and  affectionate. 

ASHY,  JAMES.  Of  Boston.  An  Addresser  of  Hutchinson 
in  1774,  and  a  Protester  against  the  Whigs  the  same  year. 
A  Boston  Whig  wrote  to  a  friend  at  New  York  as  follows  : 
"  The  Addressers  of  Mr.  Hutchinson,  and  the  Protesters 
against  our  public  measures,  lead  a  devil  of  a  life.  In  the 
country  the  people  will  not  grind  their  corn,  and  in  the  town 
they  refuse  to  purchase  from,  and  sell  to,  them." 

ASHLEY,  JONATHAN.  Minister  of  Westfield,  and  subse 
quently  of  Deerfield,  Massachusetts.  He  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1730.  He  was  a  warm  Loyalist,  and  difficulties 
occurred  between  him  and  his  people  in  consequence.  An 
Ecclesiastical  Council,  convened  in  May,  1780,  by  mutual 
consent,  to  arrange  the  difference,  dispersed  after  a  session  of 
eleven  days  without  arriving  at  any  conclusion.  He  expressed 
his  particular  sentiments  freely  and  boldly.  His  flock  was  so 
nearly  divided,  that  sometimes  one  party  had  the  ascendency, 
sometimes  the  other.  "  When  the  Whigs  were  in  the  ma 
jority,  they  refused  to  vote  him  his  firewood."  Among  the 
anecdotes  which  show  his  zeal  in  the  royal  cause,  I  select  two : 
"  When  the  provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  issued  the 
proclamation  for  the  Annual  Day  of  Thanksgiving,  they  sub 
stituted  the  ejaculation,  '  God  save  the  people,'  instead  of  the 
former  one,  '  God  save  the  king.'  He  read  the  proclamation 
from  the  pulpit,  but  when  he  had  come  to  the  close,  he  raised 
himself  aboVe  his  ordinary  height,  and,  with  great  vehemence, 


ASHLEY.  185 

subjoined,  '  And  God  save  the  king/  I  say,  '  or  we  are  an 
undone  people. 

The  other  relates  to  an  exchange  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  New 
ton  of  Greenfield,  who  also  was  a  Loyalist.  The  Deerfield 
minister  was  told  by  his  Greenfield  brother  that  he  might 
avail  of  the  occasion  to  speak  of  the  Revolution,  "by  way  of 
caution  to  his  people/'  I  find  the  result  stated  thus  :  "  Mr. 
Ashley  somewhat  enlarged  upon  the  liberty  granted  him,  and 
seriously  offended  the  congregation.  Durino-  the  intermission 

J  O          cD  G 

of  service  at  noon,  the  friends  of  the  patriot  cause  assembled, 
and  talked  the  matter  over.  They  finally  resolved  themselves 
into  a  meeting,  and  chose  a  committee  to  take  measures  in 
relation  to  the  afternoon  preaching,  which  they  did  by  fasten- 
in<>-  up  the  meeting-house.  When  Mr.  Ashley  came  to  com- 

O        1  O 

mence  the  afternoon  service,  he  was  met  at  the  door  by  one 
of  his  Deerfield  parishioners,  who  gave  him  a  significant  nudge 
with  his  elbow.  After  repeating  this  form  of  salutation,  Mr. 
Ashley  asked  him  the  reason  of  the  attack,  and  admonished 
him  that  he  w<  should  not  rebuke  an  elder."  "  An  elder?  —  an 
elder?"  replied  his  tormentor,  "if  you  had  not  said  you  was 
an  elder,  I  should  have  thought  you  was  a  poison  sumach." 
Mr.  Ashley  had  to  retire  without  entering  the  church.  But 
this  was  not  the  last  of  the  reverend  gentleman's  troubles. 
Returning  to  his  own  parish,  at  Deerfield,  he  soon  after 
preached  a  sermon  in  which  he  spoke  against  the  patriot 
cause,  and  gave  his  opinion  that  those  Americans  who  fell  at 

Lexino'ton  had  met  with  a  fearful  doom  in  the  next  world. 

» 

On  the  following  Sabbath,  he  undertook  to  enter  his  pulpit, 
but  found  it  spiked  up.  After  ineffectual  attempts  to  enter, 
he  turned  to  one  of  his  deacons,  and  requested  him  to  go  and 
get  his  hammer,  and  force  for  him  an  entrance.  The  deacon 
was  a  blacksmith,  but  informed  his  pastor  that  he  did  not  work 
on  the  Sabbath.  At  last,  an  axe  was  procured  and  the  pulpit 
entered." 

He  was  a  man  of  strong  mind,  and  an  earnest  preacher. 
He  died  in  1780,  aged  sixty-seven.  Several  of  his  sermons 
were  published. 

16 


186  ASHLEY.  -  ASPDEN. 

"  During  the  forty-eight  years  of  his  ministry  at  Deerfield, 
lie  officiated  in  249  marriages  and  1009  baptisms,  and  admit 
ted  392  members  to  his  church." 

ASHLEY,  JOSEPH,  JR.  Of  Sunderland,  Massachusetts.  He 
went  to  Halifax  in  1776,  and  was  proscribed  and  banished 
in  1778.  He  died  in  New  York  before  the  peace.  The  Hon. 
Chester  Ashley,  Senator  in  Congress,  from  Arkansas,  who 
died  at  Washington  in  1848,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven,  was  of 
the  same  family. 

ASPDEN,  MATTHIAS.  Of  Philadelphia.  Son  of  Matthias 
Aspden  and  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Philip  Packer.  He  was 
born  in  that  city  about  the  year  1756  ;  and  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution  was  a  merchant,  the  owner  of  a  house, 
wharf,  and  warehouses,  and  transacting  business  which  gave 
him  a  profit  of  £'2000  annually.  At  first,  he  inclined  to  the 
Whigs,  and  joined  a  company  of  volunteers  ;  but  his  confi 
dence  in  the  invincible  power  of  the  Crown,  and  the  fate  of 
his  friends  Hunt  and  Kearsley,  caused  a  change  of  sentiment. 
In  1776  he  abandoned  the  country.  He  intended  to  embark 
in  one  of  his  own  vessels,  but  at  the  moment  he  was  ready, 
"  the  carting  "  of  the  two  gentlemen  just  mentioned,  occurred, 
and  he  resolved  to  remain  rather  than  be  thought  remiss  in 
their  trials.  Yet,  he  soon  obtained  leave  of  the  Whigs  to  sail 
from  New  York  in  the  packet  Sivalloiv,  and  was  disappointed 
a  second  time,  in  consequence  of  difficulties  with  Governor 
Try  on.  At  last,  he  took  passage  in  the  schooner  Bertham, 
bound  to  Corunna,  Spain,  and  arrived  in  London  before  the 
close  of  the  year. 

By  a  proclamation  of  the  Council  of  Pennsylvania  in  1780, 
he  was  required  to  appear  and  be  tried  for  treason,  before 
April  1,  1781,  on  pain  of  being  attainted  and  losing  his  estate 
by  confiscation.  He  failed  ;  and  his  house,  wharf,  and  ware 
houses  in  Philadelphia  (which,  after  the  peace,  according  to 
his  statement,  rented  for  X1000  per  annum),  were  given  to 
the  University. 

In  1785  he  returned  to  America,  but  finding  his  life  in 
peril,  hastened  back  to  England.  However,  he  petitioned 


ASPDEN.  187 

for  and  received  a  full  pardon  from  the  State  in  April,  1780  ; 
and  thenceforward  seems  to  have  passed  a  life  undisturbed  by 
aught  save  his  own  self-caused  vexations  and  his  incessant 
clamors  for  pecuniary  compensation  from  all  the  governments 
with  which  he  had  ever  been  connected.  The  Legislature  of 

<""> 

Pennsylvania^  the  House  of  Commons,  the  Board  of  Com 
missioners  on  Loyalist  Claims,  the  High  Chancellor,  the  Privy 
Council,  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury,  all  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
his  complaints  ;  whereon  he  published  them  in  the  "  London 
Morning  Post."  Like  the  bat  in  the  fable,  he  songht  to 
find  gain  from  both  parties,  and  obtained  it  from  neither.  He 
was  in  France,  under  the  Alien  Bill,  in  1802  ;  at  New  York, 
under  a  passport,  in  1815  ;  and  in  July,  1817,  departed  Phil 
adelphia  for  England,  by  way  of  Canada.  He  was  addressed 
by  the  South  Sea  Company  on  the  election  of  officers  in  182-3, 
as  the  Riylit  Honorable  Matildas  Aspden,  at  Messrs.  Hoare  <j* 
Co.,  Bankers,  Fleet  /Street;  a  title  which  he  claimed,  because, 
as  he  said,  his  grandfather,  Thomas  Aspden,  married  Elizabeth 
Scroop,  "  a  descendant  of  the  ancient  and  noble  family  of  that 
name."  He  died  at  London,  August  9,  1824. 

His  will  gave  rise  to  the  most  extraordinary  suit  that  ever 
occurred  under  the  confiscation  acts  of  the  Revolution.  The 
documents  which  pertain  to  the  case  were  printed  in  1837, 
and  make  upwards  of  three  hundred  pages  :  the  eye  seldom 
rests  on  so  curious  a  medley  of  transactions  in  business,  of 
every-day  gossip,  of  personal  complaints,  and  general  mention 
of  human  vicissitudes — joy,  sorrow,  affliction,  death.  Some 
of  his  own  letters  and  other  papers  are  strange  enough. 
Travelling  in  Italy,  in  1804,  he  seems  to  have  been  con 
vinced  that  now  and  then  he  met  relatives  of  persons  (par 
ticularly  servants  of  foreign  extraction),  whom  he  had  once 
known.  "  At  this  place  (Avignon)  saw  a  good  many  Phil 
adelphia-looking  faces,  and  relations,  I  am  sure,  of  Anna, 
that  many  years  ago  lived  with  my  Aunt  Bailey ;  .  .  .  .  am 
inclined  to  think  I  also  met  in  Italy  old  Conrad.,  that  lived 
with  her  about  the  same  time,  and  used  to  carry  me  to  school 
on  a  pillow  before  him,  —  or  a  cousin  of  his  —  at  Naples; 


188  ASPDEN. 

....  and  at  this  place,  relations  of  my  neighbor,  the  razor- 
grinder's  wife,  who  passed  for  Germans.''  But  perhaps  the 
queerest  of  these  is  a  letter  from  London,  on  business,  to  the 
president,  for  the  time  being,  of  the  United  States  Bank,  in 
1808  ;  in  which  he  complains  bitterly  of  being  annoyed  by 
spirits,  and  calls  for  the  application  of  the  laws  against  sor 
cery  :  '*  For  my  own  part,  I  had  no  idea  of  anything  of  this 
kind  untill  the  winter  of  1798,  in  Ormond  Street,  when  for 
the  first  time  in  my  life  I  slept  with  a  light  in  my  chamber, 
and  forced  to  the  resource  of  it  all  the  winter  thro'.  Going 
to  Richmond  in  the  summer,  I  had  there  frequent  and  repeated 
proofs  of  there  being  spirits  and  daemons,  from  hearing  and 
seeing,  if  the  latter  are  not  also  spirits.  And  now,  and  for 
several  years  past,  nothing  more  clear,  notorious,  and  com 
mon  ;  for  I  seldom  go  out  to  a  coffee-house  that  I  am  not 
dog'd  or  bitched  all  the  way  ;  and  while  there,  to  my  great 
annoyance  and  others  present,  and  back,  by  voices  out  of  the 
air  that  I  mostly  know,  and  to  the  great  reproach  and  scandal 
of  the  police  of  this  city,  or  the  bench  of  bishops,  at  which 
ever  door  the  laying  of  evil  spirits  may  lay.  As  early  as  the 
age  of  four  or  five,  I  was  taught  to  believe  there  wyas  no  such 
tilings  as  spirits,  and  was  not  afraid  to  go  anywhere  alone,  or 
to  sleep  in  a  strange  house  in  a  chamber  alone,  with  a  window 
looking  into  a  churchyard ;  and  which  the  commands  of  the 
Lord  in  the  Bible  to  the  Jews,  to  destroy  the  witches  and 
wizards  out  of  the  land,  had  tended  to  strengthen  and  confirm. 
And  this  by  one  that  was  a  spirit  or  daemon  herself  or  itself, 
if  I  am  not  much  mistaken,  and  which  accident  led  me  to  dis 
cover,  in  looking  for  lodgings  a  few  years  agoe,  at  a  lodging- 
house  in  my  present  neighborhood,  where  I  met  the  original, 
and  was  struck  with  it ;  who,  very  soon  after  1  came  into  the 
room,  went  out  with  a  person  like  a  clergyman  with  her ;  she 
was  something  bigger  than  the  counterfeit ;  when  she  returned 
home  in  the  year  1762,  sent  the  counterfeit  abroad  ;  excellent 
hands  for  a  motherless  babe  to  fall  into.  But  as  I  am  alive 
and  tolerably  well,  except  some  remains  of  the  gout  in  my 
feet,  I  may  say  from  this,  and  many  other  things,  that  I  am 
truly  sensible  that  there  is  a  Providence  over  all." 


ASPDEN.  189 

To  return  to  Mr.  Aspden's  will.  The  suit  to  determine 
the  rightful  heirs  to  his  property  was  brought  in  1824,  in 
the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  and  decided,  finally,  in 
1848.  He  devised  his  estate,  real  and  personal,  "  to  the  per 
son  who  should  be  his  heir-at-law,"  and  in  another  part  of  the 
instrument,  "to  the  person  who  should  be  his  lawful  heir." 
The  claimants  were  upwards  of  two  hundred,  and  were  divi 
ded  into  three  classes :  1.  The  heirs  of  Mary  Harrison,  sister 
of  the  half-blood  on  the  father's  side,  and  the  heirs  of  Roger 
Hartley,  half  brother  on  the  mother's  side.  2.  The  Packers 
—  cousins  of  the  whole  blood,  a  very  large  and  constantly 
increasing  class  of  claimants,  one  of  whom  originally  instituted 
the  proceedings,  the  suit  standing  —  Packer  vs.  Nixon,  Execu 
tor  of  Matthias  Aspden.  3.  The  English  Aspdens  —  rela 
tions  of  the  whole  blood  of  the  father,  and  who  would  have 
been  heirs  at  common  law. 

The  opinion  of  Judge  Grier  was  in  substance  as  follows  : 
The  testator  left  neither  wife  nor  lineal  descendant ;  but  there 
were  the  issue  of  the  half-blood  descendants  of  Mary  Harrison 
and  Roger  Hartley.  The  issue  on  the  father's  side,  the  first 
cousins,  (the  Packers,)  are  dismissed  ;  they  have  no  claim  on 
any  possible  construction  of  this  will.  The  only  question  is 
between  the  heir  at  common  law  and  the  half-blood. 

The  llth  section  of  the  act  of  1794,  gives  the  estate  of  an 
intestate  who  dies,  leaving  no  child  or  issue  of  such  child,  to 
the  brother  or  sister  of  the  half-blood,  unless  where  the  estate 
is  acquired  by  descent,  gift  of  devise  from  the  parents,  in 
which  case,  all  who  are  not  of  the  blood  of  the  parent  from 
whom  the  estate  was  derived,  shall  be  excluded.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  the  issue  of  the  half-blood  is  in  this  case  sub 
stituted  to  the  heir  at  common  law. 

"  The  Court  are,  therefore,  of  opinion  that  the  issue  of  the 
brother  and  sister  of  the  half-blood  are  the  lawful  heirs,  and 
the  persons  entitled." 

The  decision  was  therefore  in  favor  of  the  American  heirs, 
of  the  issue  of  Mary  Harrison  and  Roger  Hartley  ;  to  whom 
the  decree  gave  property  valued  at  more  than  $r)00,000. 


190  ATHERTON. 

The  English  claimants  appealed.  The  Supreme  Court 
affirmed  the  opinion  of  Judge  Grier,  and  the  estate  was 
divided  accordingly. 

I  conclude  this  singular  story  with  a  paragraph  which 
appeared  in  a  Philadelphia  paper,  March,  1853  :  — 

"  ROMANCE  IN  REAL  LIFE.  —  John  Aspden,  whose  sud 
den  death  on  Monday  was  noticed  in  our  columns,  is  to  be 
buried  this  afternoon.  Mr.  Aspden  was  one  of  the  Eng 
lish  claimants  of  the  immense  estate  left  by  Matthias  Aspden. 
Before  the  case  was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  favor  of 
the  American  heirs,  the  latter  proposed  to  the  deceased  to 
compromise  the  matter,  and  offered  to  pay  him  the  sum  of 
8200,000  to  relinquish  his  claim  ;  this  he  refused  to  do,  and 
the  decision  of  the  Court  cut  him  off  without  a  farthing.  On 
Monday  morning  the  estate  was  divided  between  the  heirs-at- 
law,  and  almost  at  the  same  moment  John  Aspden  fell  dead, 
at  a  tavern  in  Carter's  Alley,  of  disease  of  the  heart,  supposed 
to  have  been  induced  by  disappointment  and  mortification. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  his  pocket  contained  a  solitary  cent 
—  his  entire  fortune  !  To  day  the  man  who  mio-ht  have  been 

•j  ZD 

the  possessor  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars,  will  be  borne 
to  his  grave  from  an  obscure  part  of  the  District  of  South- 
wark." 

ATHERTON,  JOSHUA.  Of  Amherst,  New  Hampshire.  He 
was  born  at  Harvard,  Massachusetts,  in  17 37,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  University  in  1762.  He  was  the  law-student  of 
Abel  Willard,  of  Lancaster,  and  of  James  Putnam,  of  Wor 
cester,  and  opened  an  office  at  Petersham.  He  removed  to 
Litchtield,  and,  in  1773,  —  when  he  was  appointed  Register 
of  Probate  of  the  County  of  Hillsborough  —  to  Amherst,  where 
he  soon  acquired  property  and  reputation  in  his  profession. 

An  open  and  firm  Loyalist,  in  the  events  that  followed,  he 
was  a  sufferer  in  person  and  estate.  He  was  entreated  by  his 
Whig  friends  to  change  his  course,  while  other  friends  who 
adhered  to  the  Crown,  urged  him  to  fiy  to  England  or  Nova 
Scotia  ;  but  he  refused  to  adopt  the  counsels  of  either.  His 
house  was  often  surrounded  by  his  political  foes,  who  marched 


ATHERTON.  191 

him  off  to  a  tavern  and  drank  freely  of  flip,  punch,  and  toddy 
at  his  expense.  He  bore  the  indignities  to  which  he  was 
exposed  so  meekly,  and  "treated"  so  generously,  as  to  win 
the  good  nature  of  his  tormentors,  and  to  cause  them  to  toss 
their  hats,  to  hurrah  for  the  Tory,  and  to  express  their  regrets 
that  he  u  was  not  one  of  the  sons  of  liberty."  Minor  annoy 
ances  I  must  pass  without  mention.  In  1777  he  was  sent 
prisoner  to  Exeter  by  order  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  where 
he  remained  nearly  or  quite  a  year.  Though  released  on 
enterino-  into  recognizance  with  sureties  in  a  laro-e  sum.  he 

O  O  W 

was  still  confined  to  the  limits  of  the  county  until  late  in  1778, 
when,  upon  his  petition,  and  his  acknowledgment  of  the 
authority  of  the  Whigs,  his  liberty  was  restored  by  proclama 
tion.  He  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  and 
the  oath  of  an  attorney,  in  1779,  and  was  admitted  to  prac 
tice  in  the  Superior  Court.  His  pecuniary  affairs  at  this  time 
were  in  a  deplorable  condition.  "  He  lay  like  some  thrifty 
tree  uprooted  by  the  late  gale,  prostrate,  divested  of  its  foliage, 
its  limbs  broken  and  scattered.  His  family  wras  much  in 
creased,  and  increasing.  His  and  their  sufferings  will  hardly 
bear  relation."  In  a  few  years,  however,  his  business  became 
extensive,  and  he  was  often  the  leading  counsel  in  the  trial  of 
important  cases.  So,  too,  his  loyalty  was  forgotten,  and  marks 
of  respect  and  confidence  were  frequent,  and  grateful  to  his 

feelings.      He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  for  the  adop- 

&  j- 

tion  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  led  the  party  that 
opposed  it.  His  principal  objections  to  that  instrument,  per 
sonally,  were  the  provisions  relative  to  slaves  and  slavery. 
Subsequently,  he  was  elected  to  the  House  and  Senate  of 
New  Hampshire,  and,  in  1793,  was  appointed  Attorney-Gen 
eral  of  that  State.  Taking  part  with  the  Federalists  in  the 
discords  here  occasioned  by  the  French  Revolution,  he  lost 
his  popularity  ;  and  when,  in  1798,  he  accepted  the  office  of 
Commissioner  under  the  Act  to  levy  a  Direct  Tax  in  the 
United  States,  "  he  had  the  honor  to  be  hung  in  effigy  in  the 
town  of  Deering."  Two  years  later,  shattered  mentally  and 
physically,  he  retired  to  private  life.  His  disease  —  an  or- 


192  ATKINS. 

ganic  affection  of  the  heart  —  terminated  in  death,  April, 
1800,  in  his  seventy-third  year.  "  He  was  remarkable  for 
his  social  qualities.  His  courtesy  and  urbanity  will  ever  be 
remembered  by  those  who  were  familiar  with  him.  His  hos 
pitality  was  unbounded.  The  clergy,  the  gentlemen  of  the 
bar,  the  judges,  officers  of  the  Revolution,  and  every  stranger 
of  distinction  within  the  reach  of  his  invitations,  were  his  wel 
come  guests."  He  was  a  good  scholar,  and  possessed  one  of 
the  best  libraries  in  the  State.  Abigail,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Goss,  of  Bolton,  Massachusetts,  became  his  wife  in 
1765,  and  died  in  1801.  At  the  time  of  her  marriage  she 
was  hardly  more  than  sixteen  years  of  age  ;  —  "  in  the  joyous 
day  of  her  nuptials,  little  did  this  young  girl  know  or  think 
of  the  trials,  hardships,  and  mortifications  of  her  future  life." 
She  proved  an  "  angel  wife  and  mother."  Charles  Hum 
phrey  Atherton,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
1794,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Hillsborough  County  bar 
for  several  years  ;  who  was  a  representative  in  Congress,  and 
who  died  at  Amherst  in  1853,  was  his  son.  lie  was  the 
father  of  six  daughters  :  namely,  Frances,  Abigail,  Rebecca 
Wentworth,  Nancy  Holland,  Catharine,  and  Elizabeth  Wil- 
lard  ;  some  of  whom  (1852),  survive,  and  all  of  whom, 
the  fourth  excepted,  married.  The  late  lion.  Charles  G. 
Atherton,  Representative  and  Senator  in  Congress  from 
New  Hampshire,  who  died  in  1853,  was  a  grandson  of  our 
Loyalist. 

ATKINS,  GIBBS.  Of  Boston.  He  went  to  Halifax  in  1776, 
and  was  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778.  He  returned  to 
the  United  States,  and  died  in  Boston  in  1806,  aged  sixty-six. 

ATKINS,  CHARLES.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  In 
1774  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Corre 
spondence  of  that  city.  In  1780  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  and  a  Petitioner  to  be  armed  on  the  side  of 
the  Crown.  He  received  a  military  commission,  and  in  1782 
was  an  officer  in  the  Volunteers.  He  was  banished,  and  his 
property  was  confiscated.  He  went  to  England.  In  1794, 
in  a  memorial  dated  at  London,  he  stated  to  the  British  Gov- 


ATKINSON,  193 

eminent,  that  large  debts  due  to  him  in  America  at  the  time 
of  his  banishment  remained  unpaid,  and  he  desired  relief. 

ATKINSON,  THEODORE.  Of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1718,  and  in  after 
life  rose  to  much  distinction.  He  held,  at  various  times,  the 
offices  of  Representative  in  the  Assembly,  Naval  Officer, 
Sheriff,  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  Colonel  of  the 
Militia,  Collector  of  the  Customs,  Secretary  of  the  Colony, 
and  Chief  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court ;  and  had  a  seat  in 
the  Council.  In  1775  a  committee  of  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  requested  him  to  deliver  up  all  the  records  and  papers 
in  the  Secretary's  office,  which  he  refused,  as  "  against  his 
oath  and  honor."  On  a  second  visit  the  committee,  without 
heeding  his  objections,  took  possession  of  the  documents  of  his 
office,  except  the  volumes  which  contained  the  charter  grants 
of  lands,  which  were  then  in  the  hands  of  Governor  Went- 
worth.  The  missing  books,  Congress,  by  resolution  of  July 
7,  1775,  voted  that  Mr.  Atkinson  should  be  held  accountable 
for  to  the  people.  He  died  in  1779,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-two.  He  bequeathed  £200  sterling  to  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Portsmouth,  the  interest  of  which  he  directed  to 
be  expended  in  bread,  and  distributed  on  Sundays  to  the  poor 
of  the  parish,  which,  as  I  understand,  has  been  dealt  out 
under  the  provision  of  his  will,  until  the  present  time,  (1859,) 
a  period  of  eighty  years.  "  His  coach  was  the  coach  of  the 
town."  He  was  a  man  of  wealth,  and  owned  more  silver 
plate,  probably,  than  any  other  person  in  New  Hampshire. 
The  town  of  Atkinson  perpetuates  his  name. 

ATKINSON,  THEODORE,  JR.  Of  New  Hampshire,  and 
son  of  the  preceding.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University 
in  1757.  Entering  upon  political  life,  he  became  a  member 
of  the  Council  and  Secretary  of  the  Colony.  He  died  at 
Portsmouth,  on  Saturday,  October  28,  1769,  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty-three,  and  his  remains  were  deposited  in  the 
family  tomb,  Queen's  Chapel,  with  great  pomp  and  circum 
stance.  On  Saturday,  November  llth — just  two  weeks  af 
ter —  his  widow,  whose  maiden  name  was  Frances  Deering 

VOL.    I.  17 


194  AUCHMUTY. 

Wentworth,  was  married  in  the  same  chapel  by  the  Rev. 
Arthur  Browne,  to  Governor  John,  afterwards  Sir  John 
Wentworth.  She  was  a  Boston  lady,  very  accomplished  and 
gay  ;  and,  as  Lady  Wentworth,  had  a  diversified  career.  She 
was  a  cousin  of  both  husbands,  and  her  earliest  attachment- 
was  for  Wentworth  ;  but  while  he.  was  absent  in  England  she 
married  Atkinson.  There  was  much  gossip  at  Portsmouth 
about  the  three  cousins  at  the  Revolutionary  era,  founded  on 
the  facts  here  stated.  And  within  a  few  years,  a  story  relat 
ing  to  the  parties  appeared  in  one  of  the  magazines,  which, 
extracted  by  the  newspaper  press,  went  the  rounds.  The 
leading  incidents  of  the  tale  were  both  ridiculous  and  untrue. 
The  towns  of  Francestown,  Deering,  and  Wentworth,  in 
New  Hampshire,  perpetuate  the  wife's  name. 

AUCHMUTY,  REV.  SAMUEL,  D.  D.  Of  New  York.  Rector 
of  Trinity  Church.  Son  of  Robert,  Judge  of  Vice-Admi 
ralty.  Graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1742.  I  lose 
sight  of  him  until  1754,  when  he  was  employed  by  the  So 
ciety  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts, 
as  Catechist  to  the  negroes  in  New  York,  at  a  salary  of 
£50  ;  and  where,  he  wrote  the  Society,  that  in  six  months 
he  had  baptized  twenty-three  children  and  two  adults,  and 
was  preparing  three  others.  He  succeeded  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Barclay  as  Rector,  in  1764,  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Inglis  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Ogilvie,  as  assistants.  Oxford,  England,  con 
ferred  the  degree  of  S.  T.  D.  in  1766,  and  King's  College, 
New  York,  the  year  following.  In  1771,  I  find  his  name 
first  on  an  Address  to  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia,  urging 
the  necessity  of  an  "  American  Episcopate,"  or,  the  resi 
dence  of  bishops  in  the  Colonies.  Trumbull  calls  him  a 
"  high-church  clergyman,"  and  makes  him  the  subject  of 
remark  in  McFingal.  In  April,  1775,  Dr.  Auchmuty  wrote 
from  New  York  to  Captain  Montresor,  chief  engineer  of 
General  Gage's  army  at  Boston,  that  "  we  have  lately  been 
plagued  with  a  rascally  Whig  mob  here,  but  they  have 
effected  nothing,  only  Sears,  the  king,  was  rescued  at  the 
jail-door."  .  .  .  .  "  Our  magistrates  have  not  the  spirit  of  a 
louse,"  &c. 


AUCHMUTY. 

In  September,  1776,  nearly  one  thousand  buildings  were 
burned  in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  and  among  them 
Trinity  Church,  the  Rector's  house,  and  the  Charity  School  ; 
St.  Paul's  Chapel  and  King's  College  barely  escaped.  The 
Vestry  of  Trinity  reported  the  loss  by  this  fire  to  the  Church 
to  be — Trinity  Church  and  organ,  £17,500;  two  Charity 
School-houses  and  fences,  £2000;  Library,  £200;  Rector's 
house,  £2500  ;  total,  £22,200  ;  besides  the  annual  rent  of  two 
hundred  and  forty-six  lots  of  ground,  —  the  tenant  buildings 
being  all  consumed.  After  the  fire,  Dr.  Auchmuty  searched 
the  ruins  of  his  church  and  of  his  large  and  elegant  man 
sion,  but  found  no  articles  of  value,  except  the  church  plate 
and  his  own.  His  personal  losses  by  the  conflagration,  he 
estimated  at  upwards  of  -$12,000.  He  died  in  1777.  His 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  Richard  Nichols,  Governor  of  New 
York.  Notices  of  his  two  sons  follow.  His  daughter  Jane 
was  the  second  wife  of  Richard  Tylden,  of  the  family  of 
Tylden,  Milsted,  County  of  Kent,  England  ;  one  of  her  sons 
is  the  present  Sir  John  Maxwell  Tylden,  who  was  in  the 
army  twenty  years  ;  and  another,  William  Burton  Tylden, 
is  a  major  in  the  Royal  Engineers.  Of  Dr.  Auchmuty's 
two  other  daughters,  I  have  no  account,  save  that  they  were 
married. 

AUCHMUTY,  SIR  SAMUEL.  Of  New  York.  Lieutenant- 
General  in  the  British  Army.  Eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Auchmuty.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  he  was  a 

»'  o  o 

student  at  King's  College,  and  was  intended  by  his  father  for 
the  ministry.  But  his  own  inclinations  were  military  from 
his  boyhood. 

Soon  after  he  graduated,  and  in  177t>,  he  joined  the  Royal 
Army  under  Sir  William  Howe,  as  an  ensign  in  the  45th 
Regiment,  and  was  present  in  most  of  the  actions  in  that  and 
the  following  year.  In  178o  he  commanded  a  company  in 
the  75th  Regiment,  in  the  East  Indies,  and  was  with  Lord 
Cornwallis  in  the  first  siege  of  Seringapatam.  In  1801  he 
joined  the  expedition  to  Egypt,  and  held  the  post  of  adjutant- 
general.  He  returned  to  England  in  1803,  and  three  years 


196  AUCHMUTY. 

after  was  ordered  to  South  America,  where,  as  brigadier- 
general,  he  assumed  command  of  the  troops  ;  and,  in  1807, 
assaulted  and  reduced  —  after  a  most  determined  resistance 
-  the  city  and  fortress  of  Monte  Video.  In  1809  he  was 
transferred  to  India.  Subsequently,  he  succeeded  Sir  D. 
Baird,  as  chief  of  the  staff  in  Ireland.  He  was  knighted  in 

'  & 

1812  ;  his  nephew,  Sir  John  Maxwell  Tylden,  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  52d  Regiment,  being  his  proxy.  He  twice 
received  the  thanks  of  Parliament,  and  was  presented  with 
a  service  of  plate  by  that  body,  and  by  the  East  India  Com 
pany.  His  seat,  —  Syndale  House,  —  was  in  Kent,  near 
Feversham.  He  died  in  Ireland,  suddenly,  in  1822,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-four. 

AUCHMUTY,  ROBERT  NICHOLS.  Of  New  York.  Son  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Auchmuty.  He  was  a  graduate  of  King's 
College,  New  York  ;  and,  in  the  Revolution,  served  as  a  vol 
unteer  in  the  British  Army.  He  died  at  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  in  1813.  His  wife  was  Henrietta,  daughter  of  Henry 
John  Overing.  His  daughter  Maria  M.,  widow  of  Colonel  E. 
D.  Wainwright,  of  the  United  States  Marines,  died  at  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.,  January,  1861,  aged  seventy -one. 

AUCHMUTY,  RICHARD  HARRISON.  Of  New  York.  Sur 
geon  in  the  British  Army.  Taken  prisoner  in  the  storming 
of  Stoney  Point.  With  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  ;  —  and 
died  soon  after  the  surrender,  while  on  parole. 

AUCHMUTY,  ROBERT.  Of  Boston.  In  1767  he  was  ap 
pointed  Judge  of  Vice- Admiralty  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire,  in  place  of  Chambers  Russell,  deceased.  John 
Adams,  with  whom  he  was  associated  in  the  defence  of  Cap 
tain  Preston,  for  the  affair  in  King  Street,  March  5,  1770, 
called  the  "  Boston  Massacre,"  describes  his  arguments  at 
the  bar  thus  :  —  "  Volubility,  voluble  repetitions  and  repeated 
volubility;  fluent  reiterations  and  reiterating  fluency;  such 
nauseous  eloquence  always  puts  my  patience  to  the  torture." 

His  letters  to  persons  in  England  were  sent  to  America, 
with  those  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  by  Franklin,  in  1773,  and 
created  much  commotion.  He  went  to  England  in  1776, 


AUCIIMUTY.  —  AVERT.  197 

and  at  one  period  was  in  very  distressed  circumstances.  He 
never  returned  to  the  United  States.  His  estate  was  confis 
cated.  His  mansion  in  Roxbury  became  the  property  of 
Governor  Increase  Sumner,  and  was  occupied  by  him  at  the 
time  of  his  decease.  Mr.  Auchmuty  died  in  1788. 

Walker  &  Son,  booksellers,  London,  have  on  their  Catalogue 
of  1850,  among  their  rare  American  tracts,  the  following:  — 
"  AUCHMUTY  (Robert,  an  Absentee,')  Certificate  of  the  Com 
monwealth  of  Massachusetts  of  the  Sale  of  R.  Auchmuty's 
Library,  at  Public  Auction,  according  to  Law,  Signed  <tnd 
Sealed  12th  Feb.  1784,  with  Autograph  Certificate  of  John 
Browne,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Sequestration,  Signed 
and  Dated  10th  Feb.  1784,  Boston;  Statement  of  the  Manner 
in  which  Mrs.  Brinley  and  Mrs.  Breynton  Executed  the 
Directions  of  the  Will  of  R.  Anchmuty,  Esq.,  with  his  Will 
annexed,  &c.,  showing  every  thing  that  was  done  for  those 
purposes,  20  pages,  4to." 

AUCHMUTY,  JAMES.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  Robert.  "  I 
send  you,''  wrote  General  Scott  to  the  Provincial  Congress, 
July  5,  1770,  "  James  Anchmuty,  storekeeper  in  the  Engi 
neer  Department,  and  brother  to  Dr.  Auchmuty,  with  his 
wife  and  child."  He  himself  wrote  Mr.  Jay,  in  October  of 
the  same  year,  that,  while  others  held  as  prisoners  of  war- 
were  paid  the  regular  allowance,  not  a  shilling  had  been  given 
him.  Soon  after,  he  gave  his  parole  to  depart  to  Danbury, 
Connecticut,  and  to  remain  neutral  until  exchanged  or  dis 
charged.  At  the  peace  he  removed  to  Nova  Scotia,  where 
he  became  eminent  as  a  lawyer,  and  was  appointed  judge. 
He  had  a  son  in  the  British  Army,  who  was  killed  in  battle 
in  the  West  Indies. 

AVKJIY,  EPHKAIM.  Of  Pomfret,  Connecticut.  Episcopal 
minister.  He  received  the  degree  of  A.  B.  from  Yale  College, 
and  that  of  A.  M.  from  King's  College,  New  York.  In  1705 
he  succeeded  Mr.  Punderson  as  minister  of  Rye,  and  con 
tinued  his  pastoral  relations  until  the  Revolution,  "  when  he 
became  so  obnoxious  to  the  Whigs,*'  that  his  farm  animals 
were  driven  off  and  his  other  property  plundered.  He  died 


198  AXTELL.  —  AYMAR. 

November,  1776.  General  Israel  Putnam  was  one  of  the 
husbands  of  his  mother.  She  died  in  the  Highlands  in  1777, 
and  was  deposited  in  Beverly  Robinson's  tomb. 

AXTELL,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  York.  Member  of  the  Coun 
cil  of  that  Colony.  He  was  descended  from  David  Axtell,  a 
colonel  in  Cromwell's  army,  who  was  beheaded  at  the  restor 
ation  of  the  Stuarts.  When  examined  by  the  Whig  Com 
mittee,  in  1776,  he  stated  that  the  bulk  of  his  property  was 
in  Great  Britain  and  the  West  Indies.  In  reporting  his  case 
to  the  Provincial  Congress,  the  Committee  remarked  that 
they  believed  him  to  be  "  a  gentleman  of  high  honor  and 
integrity."  He  had  a  country-seat  at  Flatbush,  was  the  first 
man  in  wealth  and  importance  there,  and  invited  Whig  pris 
oners  to  sup  with  him.  Miss  Shipton,  a  relative  and  an  in 
mate  of  his  house,  married  Colonel  Giles,  of  the  Continental 
Army.  In  1778  Mr.  Axtell  was  commissioned  by  Sir  Wil 
liam  Howe,  colonel  of  a  corps  of  Loyalists.  In  1783  the 
colors  of  the  regiment  of  Waldeck  were  consecrated  in  front 
of  his  mansion  at  Flatbush.  The  troops  formed  in  a  circle, 
and  officers  and  men  took  a  solemn  oath  to  support  the  new 
standards ;  a  splendid  dinner  and  a  ball  followed  ;  and  the 
ladies  presented  the  officers  who  bore  the  colors,  with  a  knot 
of  blue  and  yellow  ribbons.  In  November  of  the  last  men 
tioned  year,  Colonel  Axtell's  furniture  was  sold  by  auction 
at  his  town-house,  Broadway,  New  York.  His  estate  was 
confiscated.  He  went  to  England,  received  a  considerable 
sum  for  his  losses,  and  was  allowed  the  half-pay  of  a  colonel. 
He  died  at  Beaumont  Cottage,  Surrey,  in  1795,  aged  seventy- 
five.  His  wife  died  before  his  departure  from  America.  He 
left  no  issue. 

AYMAR,  FRANCIS.  Descended  from  a  family  that  fled  to 
the  United  States  during  the  religious  persecutions  in  France. 
Was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1759,  and  died  at  St. 
Andrew,  New  Brunswick,  October,  1843,  aged  eighty-four 
years.  He  was  one  of  the  grantees  of,  and  settled  at  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  in  the  autumn  of  1783,  and  continued  his 
residence  there  until  1807,  when  he  returned  to  the  United 


BABBIT.  —  BACHE.  199 

States,  and  lived  alternately  at  Eastport,  Maine  ;  New  York ; 
and  St.  Andrew,  up  to  the  time  of  his  decease.  He  was  the 
father  of  fifteen  children,  of  whom  the  following  survived 
him  :  Daniel,  William,  John,  Francis,  Nancy,  Mary,  Betsey, 
Eleanor,  Sarah,  and  Phebe. 

BABBIT,  DANIEL.  He  died  at  Gagetown,  New  Brunswick, 
1830,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven. 

BABCOCK,  REV.  LUKE.  An  Episcopal  minister.  He  was 
the  youngest  son  of  Chief  Justice  Babcock,  of  Rhode  Island, 
was  born  in  1738,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1755. 
Having  been  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  he  was  ap 
pointed  to  the  mission  of  Philipsburgh,  New  York.  In  1774, 
King's  College  conferred  the  degree  of  A.  M.  Soon  after 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  his  papers  were  examined, 
and  he  was  personally  interrogated  touching  his  allegiance  to 
the  Crown.  The  result  was,  that  in  October,  1776,  he  was 
ordered  to  Hartford,  where  he  remained  until  the  following 

o 

February,  when  his  health  foiled,  and  he  was  directed  to  re 
move  within  the  lines  of  the  Royal  Army.  "  He  got  home 
in  a  raging  fever,  and  delirious,"  and  died,  February  18,  1777. 
Mr.  Seabury  said,  —  "I  know  not  a  more  excellent  man,  and 
I  fear  his  loss,  especially  in  that  mission,  will  scarcely  be  made 
up."  His  remains  were  deposited  in  the  family  vault  of  the 
Van  Cortlands. 

In  1780  the  parsonage  was  broken  into  by  a  band  of  "  cow 
boys,"  with  disguised  persons  and  blackened  faces,  and  the 
ladies  robbed  of  their  valuables.  The  leader,  in  parting,  made 
a  profound  bow,  and  thus  addressed  Mrs.  Babcock  :  — 

"  Fare  you  well,  and  fare  you  better, 
And  when  I  die,  1  '11  send  you  a  letter." 

Mr.  Babcock's  brother  Henry,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
was  a  lawyer,  a  colonel  in  the  Whig  service,  in  command  at 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  "  a  man  of  fine  person,  accom 
plished  manners,  and  winning  eloquence." 

BACHE,  THEOPHYLACT.  Of  New  York.  He  came  to 
America,  probably,  in  1755.  He  was  a  merchant,  and  his 


200  B  ACHE.  — BACON. 

business  was  principally  with  the  West  Indies  and  Newfound 
land.  He  was  also  agent  of  the  packets  which  plied  between 
Falmouth,  England,  and  New  York.  In  1773  he  was  elected 
President,  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  was  a  deter 
mined  Loyalist.  His  brother  Richard  married  Sarah,  daugh 
ter  of  Doctor  Franklin,  and  was  a  Whig.  The  political  sym 
pathies  of  Theophylact  were,  possibly,  the  same  as  Richard's 
at  the  outset,  since  he  was  associated  with  Jay  and  Lewis  on 
the  Committee  of  Correspondence. 

July  1,  177<>,  in  a  letter  to  Philip  Livingston,  he  denied 
that  he  was  inimical  to  American  rights,  and  said,  that  the 
distressed  state  of  his  wife  and  numerous  family,  required  all 
his  attention,  and  would,  he  hoped,  be  a  sufficient  apology  for 
not  appearing  before  Congress,  as  required  to  do  by  that  body. 
At  one  period  of  the  war  his  place  of  residence  was  at  Flat- 
bush,  Long  Island.  Obnoxious  to  some  of  the  Whigs,  in  the 
course  of  events,  a  daring  attempt  to  carry  him  off  was  made 
in  1778,  by  a  Captain  Marriner,  an  eccentric,  witty,  and  inge 
nious  partisan,  which  resulted  successfully.  Marriner's  plan 
embraced  three  other  Loyalists  of  rank  and  consequence  : 
but  Bache  and  Major  Moncrieffe,  with  four  slaves,  were  those 
whom  he  actually  captured,  and  they  were  placed  in  a  boat 
and  conveyed  to  New  Jersey.  The  marauders  struck  Mrs. 
Bache  several  times  for  entreating  them  not  to  deal  harshly 
with  her  husband,  and  they  plundered  the  house  of  plate, 
wounded  a  female  servant,  and  dragged  off  Mr.  Bache  him 
self  without  giving  him  time  to  put  on  his  clothes.  Such  is 
the  account. 

Mr.  Bache  was  kind  to  Colonel  Graydon,  a  Whig  ;  gave 
him  frequent  invitations  to  tea,  and  to  partake  of  his  Ma 
deira,  and  offered  his  purse  to  relieve  his  supposed  necessities. 
"He  is  remembered  as  a  fine  specimen  of  a  gentleman, — 
courteous,  hospitable,  with  a  touch  of  the  sportsman,  loving 
his  gun  and  his  dog,  and  everywhere  acceptable  as  a  polished 
and  agreeable  companion.''  He  died  in  New  York,  in  1807, 
aged  seventy-eight.  His  wife  was  a  Miss  Barclay. 

BACON,  JOHN.     Of  New  Jersey.    .Leader   of  a   band   of 


BACON.  -  BAILEY.  201 

marauders  in  the  counties  of  Burlington  and  Mon mouth. 
In  the  fight  at  Cedar  Bridge,  he  was  accused  of  killing  one 
Cook,  and  the  State  offered  a  reward  for  his  capture,  dead 
or  alive.  In  April,  1782,  a  brother  of  Cook,  John  Stewart, 
and  four  others,  all  heavily  armed,  surprised  him  on  a  very 
dark  night,  in  a  tavern,  when  he  surrendered  and  was  dis 
armed.  But  Cook  thrust  his  bayonet  into  his  body,  and,  on 
his  attempt  to  escape,  Stewart  shot  him  dead. 

BABGELY,  -  — .  June  20,  1782,  he  was  condemned  to 
death  for  treason  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  day  of  execution 
appointed.  His  case  caused  a  spirited  letter  from  Sir  Guy 
Carlcton  to  Washington.  The  papers  show  that  Badgely 
"joined  the  enemy  long  after  the  passing  of  the  treason  act." 

BADGER,  MOSES.  An  Episcopal  minister.  He  graduated 
at  Harvard  University  in  1701.  His  wife  was  a  daughter 
of  Judge  Saltonstall  of  Massachusetts,  and  sister  of  Colonel 
Richard  and  Leverett,  the  two  Loyalist  sons  of  that  gentle 
man.  Mr.  Badger  went  to  Halifax  in  1776,  but  was  at  New 
York  at  or  about  the  time  of  the  death  of  Leverett,  and  wrote 
to  the  family  on  the  subject.  At  one  period  he  was  chaplain 
to  De  Lancey's  second  battalion.  After  the  Revolution,  Mr. 
Badger  was  Rector  of  King's  Chapel,  Providence,  and  died 
in  that  city  in  1792.  It  appears,  that  some  years  prior  to 
the  war  he  was  an  Episcopal  missionary  in  New  Hampshire, 
authorized  to  labor  throughout  that  Colony. 

BAILEY,  JACOB.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
1755.  Principally  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Ply 
mouth  proprietors  in  Maine,  an  Episcopal  Church  was 
erected  at  Pownalborough,  now  Dresden,  in  that  State,  and 
for  several  years  Mr.  Bailey  was  the  officiating  clergyman, 
as  a  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel.  Few  around  him  agreed  with  him  in  political 
sentiment. 

For  the  single  offence  of  continuing  divine  service,  he 
relates,  he  was  threatened,  insulted,  condemned,  laid  under 
heavy  bonds,  and  doomed  to  transportation.  His  family  con 
sisted  of  a  wife,  a  young  infant,  and  two  girls  of  about  eleven 


202  BAILEY. 

years.  Informed  of  a  design  against  his  life,  he  resolved  to 
leave  them,  destitute  of  money,  and  of  provisions  except  a  few 
garden  roots  ;  and  escape,  as  he  best  could  do.  He  accom 
plished  his  purpose,  but  returned.  Again  molested,  and  told 
that  if  he  attempted  to  officiate  in  public  or  in  private,  imme 
diate  confinement  in  prison  would  follow,  he  determined  to 
abandon  the  country,  and  in  the  summer  of  1779  he  went  to 
Halifax,  N.  S.  I  give  an  account  of  his  appearance  when 
he  landed  in  that  city,  in  nearly  his  own  words.  His  feet 
were  adorned  with  shoes  which  sustained  the  marks  of  rebel 
lion  and  independence.  His  legs  were  covered  with  a  thick 
pair  of  blue  woollen  stockings,  which  had  been  so  often  mended 
and  darned  by  the  fingers  of  frugality,  that  scarce  an  atom  of 
the  original  remained.  His  breeches,  which  just  concealed 
the  shame  of  his  nakedness,  had  been  formerly  black,  but  the 
color  being  worn  out  by  age,  nothing  remained  but  a  rusty 
gray,  bespattered  with  lint,  and  bedaubed  with  pitch.  Over 
a  coarse  tow  and  linen  shirt,  manufactured  in  the  looms  of 
sedition,  he  wore  a  coat  and  waistcoat  of  the  same  dandy  gray 
russet ;  and,  to  secrete  from  public  inspection  the  innumerable 
rents,  holes,  and  deformities,  which  time  and  misfortunes  had 
wrought  in  these  rao-o-ed  and  weather-beaten  o-arments,  he 

O  «^£"">  O  7 

was  furnished  with  a  blue  surtout,  fritted  at  the  elbows,  worn 
at  the  buttpn-holes,  and  stained  with  a  variety  of -tints.  To 
complete  the  whole,  a  jaundice-colored  wig,  devoid  of  curls, 
was  shaded  with  the  remnants  of  a  rusty  beaver,  its  monstrous 
brim  replete  with  notches  and  furrows,  and  grown  limpsy  by 
the  alternate  inflictions  of  storm  and  sunshine,  lopped  over 
his  shoulders,  and  obscured  a  face  meagre  with  famine  and 
wrinkled  with  solicitude.  His  wife's  dress  was  no  better. 
She  was  arrayed  in  a  ragged  baize  night-gown,  tied  round  the 

j  c*o  o         s 

middle  with  a  woollen  string  ;  her  petticoats  were  jagged  at 
the  bottom,  were  ragged  above,  and  drabbled  in  mud.  He 
became  Rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  died  in  that  relation  in  1808,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 
During  the  last  twenty-six  years  of  his  life  he  was  absent 
from  his  church  only  one  Sunday. 


BAILEY.  —  BATNBRIDGE.  203 

His  wife,  Sally,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  Weeks,  of  Hamp 
ton,  N.  II.  ;  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  survived  him. 
Charles  Percey,  the  oldest  son,  who  was  remarkable  for  per 
sonal  beauty,  was  a  captain  in  the  British  Army,  and  was 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Chippewa,  in  the  war  of  1812.  Re 
becca  Lavinia  died  at  Annapolis.  Charlotte  Maria  is  (1853) 
still  living.  Thomas  Henry  was  an  officer  in  the  militia,  and 
died  young,  leaving  a  wife  and  three  children.  William  Gil 
bert  was  a  lawyer  of  extensive  practice,  died  young,  also, 
and  left  a  family.  Elizabeth  Anna  married  Mr.  James  Whit 
man.  Mrs.  Bailey  died  at  Annapolis  in  1818,  at  the  age  of 
seventy.  Mr.  Bailey  was  poor  throughout  his  life.  "  Though 
oppressed  himself  by  want  and  debt,  his  hospitality  never 
ceased  to  flow,  and  by  the  kindness  of  his  nature  he  always 
retained  the  personal  regard  of  all  who  knew  him." 

The  Life  of  Mr.  Bailey,  by  the  Rev.  William  S.  Bartlet, 
late  Rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Chelsea,  Mass.,  is  instruc 
tive  and  interesting,  and  has  afforded  materials  for  several 
notices  in  these  pages. 

BAILEY,  WILLIAM.  In  1782  was  captain-lieutenant  of 
the  Loyal  American  Regiment  ;  he  settled  after  the  war  in 
New  Brunswick,  and  received  half-pay.  He  died  on  the  River 
St.  John,  near  Fredericton,  in  1832,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety-seven. 

BAILEY,  ZACHATIIAH.  Died  at  Fredericton,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1823,  aged  seventy-two. 

BAILIE,  GEORGE.  Of  Georgia.  In  1777  the  Committee 
of  Safety  for  the  parish  of  St.  John,  gave  him  and  two  others 
permission  to  ship  rice  to  Surinam,  under  bond  and  security 
that  it  should  not  be  landed  in  a  British  port.  He  had  pur 
chased  goods  to  a  considerable  amount  of  William  Parton, 
(a  Loyalist  mentioned  in  these  volumes,)  and  that  gentleman, 
by  an  arrangement  with  the  Governor  of  Florida,  changed 
the  destination  of  the  vessels,  and  the  bond  was  forfeited. 
The  result  was  that  Bailie  was  included  in  the  Banishment 
and  Confiscation  Act. 

BAIXBIUDGE,  ABSALOM.     Of  Princeton,  New  Jersey.    Phy- 


204  BAINBRIDGE.  —  BALDWIN. 

sician.  He  was  descended  from  Sir  Arthur  Bainbridge,  of 
Durham  County,  England,  and  his  American  ancestor  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  New  Jersey.  At  the  Revolutionary 
era  the  family  was  of  great  respectability.  Soon  after  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  he  retired  to  New  York.  In  1778  he 
was  a  surgeon  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers  ;  and  at  Flat- 
bush  that  year,  offered  two  guineas  reward  for  a  runaway 
negro  boy,  Priam, — "hair  light-colored  and  of  the  woolly 
kind."  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  John  Taylor,  of  Mon- 
mouth  County,  N.  J.  He  died  at  New  York  in  1807,  aged 
sixty. 

His  son  William,  born  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  in  1774,  entered 
the  United  States  Navy  during  the  aggressions  of  France,  as 
a  lieutenant  ;  was  commissioned  post-captain  in  1800,  before 
he  was  twenty-six  ;  and,  December  29,  1812,  in  command 
of  the  frigate  Constitution,  he  captured  the  British  frigate 
Java.  He  died  in  1883,  in  his  sixtieth  year.  Another  son, 
Joseph,  was  also  a  captain  in  the  United  States  Navy. 

BAIRD,  WILLIAM  and  ARCHIBALD.  The  first  went  to  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that 
city.  Archibald  was  collector  of  the  customs  at  Georgetown, 
S.  C.  ;  and,  expelled  for  refusing  to  swear  allegiance  to  the 
Whigs,  he  went  to  Europe,  and  died  previous  to  August,  1777. 

BALDWIN,  JOHN.  Of  Philadelphia.  Accused,  in  1776, 
of  refusing  to  receive  "  Continental  money,"  he  was  sum 
moned  before  the  Council  of  Safety,  and  when  informed  of 
the  complaint  against  him,  acknowledged  its  truth.  The 
Council  urged  the  pernicious  influence  of  his  conduct,  and 
gave  him  several  days  for  reflection,  in  the  hope  that  he  would 
change  his  purpose.  Persisting,  at  a  second  hearing,  he  was 
proclaimed  "  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and  precluded  from  all 
trade  and  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of  these  States  ;  " 
and  he  was  ordered  to  jail,  there  to  remain  without  bail  or 
mainprise  until  he  shall  be  released  by  order  of  the  Council, 
or  some  other  power  lawfully  authorized  so  to  do." 

There  died  at  St.  George,  N.  B.,  in  1840,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-one  years,  a  Loyalist  of  the  name  of  John  Baldween, 


BALL.  —  BANNISTER.  205 

who  served  the  Crown  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Revolution, 
who  was  distinguished  for  bravery,  and  who,  I  suppose,  was 
the  subject  of  this  notice. 

BALL,  -  — .  Captain  of  a  militia  company  in  the  town 
of  Berne,  New  York.  His  command  consisted  of  eighty-five 
men  ;  of  whom  sixty-three  joined  him  in  going  over  to  the 
king  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities.  His  ensign,  Peter 
Deitz,  and  the  remainder  of  his  men,  were  Whigs.  Deitz 
was  commissioned  captain,  and  his  brother,  William  Deitz, 
lieutenant.  Peter  was  killed  in  1777,  and  William  succeeded 
him  in  command,  and  by  his  activity  incurred  the  hate  of  the 
Tories,  when  with  his  family  they  made  him  their  prisoner, 
and  tied  him  to  his  gate-post  to  witness  the  death  of  his  father 
and  mother,  his  wife  and  children,  who  were  successively 
brought  out  and  murdered  before  his  eyes.  The  unhappy 
Deitz  himself  was  carried  to  Niagara,  where  he  ultimately 
became  a  victim  of  Tory  cruelty. 

BALLINGALL,  ROBERT.  Of  South  Carolina.  He  was  in 
commission  under  the  Crown  after  the  surrender  of  Charles 
ton  in  1780,  and  his  estate  was  confiscated. 

When  Sir  Henry  Clinton  issued  his  proclamation  ordering 
all  prisoners  taken  at  the  capitulation  to  return  to  that  city, 
Ballingall  waited  upon  the  ill-fated  Colonel  Isaac  Hayne,  and 
communicated  the  orders  he  had  received  on  the  subject. 
Hayne  asserted  that  he  was  not  bound  to  obey,  and  plead  that 
his  children  were  all  ill  with  the  small-pox,  that  one  child  had 
died,  and  that  his  wife  was  on  the  eve  of  dissolution  ;  and 
finally  declared,  that  no  human  force  should  remove  him  from 
the  side  of  his  dying  wife.  A  discussion  followed,  and,  at 
last,  Hayne  consented  to  give  Ballingall  a  written  stipulation 
to  "  demean  himself  as  a  British  subject,  so  long  as  that  coun 
try  should  be  covered  by  the  British  Army." 

BALMATXE,  WILLIAM.  He  settled  at  Grand  Lake,  New 
Brunswick.  While  at  St.  John,  in  1809,  he  fell  from  a  win 
dow  and  was  killed.  His  age  was  seventy-two. 

BANNISTER,  JOHN.  A  "  young  man  of  family,  property, 
and  convivial  habits/'  who  went  to  England  during  the  war, 

VOL.  i.  18 


206  BANYAR.  —  BARB  ARIE. 

and  was  on  intimate  terms  with  Count  Rumford.     He  died 
previous  to  1813. 

BANYAR,  GOLDSBROW.  Of  New  York.  He  was  born  in 
London  in  1724,  and  came  to  America  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
In  1746  he  was  sworn  in  as  Deputy  Secretary  of  the  Colony, 
Deputy  Clerk  of  the  Council,  and  Deputy  Clerk  of  the 
Supreme  Court ;  and,  six  years  later,  was  appointed  Register 
of  the  Court  of  Chancery  ;  and  in  1753,  Judge  of  Probate. 
His  public  employments  ceased  with  the  termination  of  the 
Royal  Government.  When  the  WlnVs  assumed  the  direction 

«/  CT 

of  affairs,  he  retired  to  Rhinebeck,  New  York.  At  the  peace 
he  removed  to  Albany,  "  where  he  always  took  a  great  inter 
est  in  the  internal  improvements  of  the  State,  and  contributed 
to  all  a  liberal  support."  His  wife  was  the  widow  of  John 
Appy,  Judge- Advocate  of  the  forces  in  America.  Blind  in 
the  last  years  of  his  life,  he  was  led  about  the  streets  by  a 
colored  servant.  He  died  at  Albany  in  1815,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-one  ;  "  leaving  to  his  descendants  a  large  fortune,  and 
a  more  enduring  inheritance,  —  the  recollection  of  his  many 
virtues  and  the  example  of  a  life  devoted  to  duty/'  His  son 
Goldsbrow  died  in  New  York  in  1806. 

BARBARIE,  JOHN.  Captain  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers. 
Taken  prisoner  at  Staten  Island  in  1777,  and  sent  to  Trenton. 
In  garrison  during  the  siege  of  Ninety-Six,  South  Carolina, 
and  wounded.  In  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  ao;ain  wounded. 

I  O     '       O 

He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was 
a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  received  half-pay.  He  was  a 
colonel  of  the  militia,  and  a  magistrate  of  the  County  of  York. 
He  died  at  Sussex  Yale  in  1818,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 
His  son,  Andrew  Barbarie,  Esq.,  was  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Assembly. 

BARBARIE,  OLIVER.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Loyal  American  Regiment.  He  settled  at  St.  John  in  1783, 
and  A\as  the  grantee  of  a  city  lot.  He  died  at  Sussex  Vale, 
New  Brunswick. 

"  Euphemia,  relict  of  Oliver  Barbarie,  late  of  the  Barrack 
Department,"  died  at  Holyhead,  England,  at  the  house  of 
her  brother,  Captain  Skinner,  in  1830,  aged  sixty-four. 


BARCLAY.  207 

BARCLAY,  THOMAS.  Was  the  son  of  Henry  Barclay, 
D.  D.,  Hector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  and  was  Lorn 
in  that  city,  October  12,  1753.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Colum 
bia  College,  and  a  student  of  law  of  John  Jay.  At  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Revolution  he  entered  the  British  Army  under 
Sir  William  Howe,  as  a  captain  in  the  Loyal  American  Regi 
ment,  and  was  promoted  to  a  major  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton  in 
1777.  He  continued  in  active  service  until  the  peace.  His 
estate  in  New  York  was  confiscated,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
contest  he  fled  with  his  family  to  Nova  Scotia.  Of  the  House 
of  Assembly  of  that  Province  he  was  for  some  time  Speaker  ; 
and  of  the  militia,  Adjutant-General.  From  179G  till  1828 
he  was  employed  in  civil  stations,  under  the  British  crown, 
of  great  trust  and  honor.  He  was  successively  a  commis 
sioner  under  Jay's  Treaty,  the  Consul-General  for  the  North 
ern  and  Eastern  States,  and  Commissary  for  the  care  and 
exchange  of  prisoners.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  of  1812, 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  he  wras  ap 
pointed  Commissioner  under  the  fourth  and  fifth  Articles  of 
the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  which  post  he  continued  to  hold  until 
within  two  years  of  his  decease. 

In  an  autograph  letter  in  my  possession,  dated  at  Annapolis 
in  1799,  he  said  to  a  fellow-exile  :  —  "I  find  that  those  who 
wrere  termed  Royalists  or  Loyalists,  in  addition  to  their  attach 
ment  to  their  king  and  country,  preserve  their  principles  of 
honor  and  integrity,  of  openness  and  sincerity,  which  marked 
the  Americans  previous  to  the  year  1773  ;  while  those  who 
have  sold  their  king  for  a  Republican  Government,  have 
adopted  all  the  frivolity,  intrigue,  and  insincerity  of  the 
French,  and  in  relinquishing  their  allegiance,  resigned  at  the 
same  time,  almost  universally,  religion  and  morality." 

In  private  life  he  was  estimable.  He  was  a  sincere  and 
devout  Christian  of  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
land.  A  prominent  trait  in  his  character  was  kindness  and 
charity  to  the  poor.  His  official  conduct  was  the  subject  of 
frequent  and  marked  approbation  of  the  sovereigns  whom  he 
served,  and  at  the  close  of  his  services  he  was  rewarded  with 


208  BARD.  —  BARDAN. 

a  pension  of  ,£1200  per  annum.  His  habits  of  industry  and 
application  were  extraordinary  ;  and  he  was  never  in  bed  at 
sunrise  for  forty  years.  He  died  at  New  York  in  April, 
1880,  aged  seventy-seven  years.  His  son,  Colonel  Delancey 
Barclay,  an  aide-de-camp  to  George  the  Fourth,  died  in 
1826  ;  he  had  repeatedly  distinguished  himself,  particularly 
at  Waterloo. 

BARD,  SAMUEL.  Of  New  York.  Physician,  L.L.  D. 
He  was  horn  in  Philadelphia  in  1742,  and  graduated  at 
King's  College,  N.  Y.  In  1762  he  went  to  Edinburgh  to 
complete  his  medical  education,  and  was  absent  five  years. 
Soon  after  his  return,  he  helped  to  organize  a  medical  school, 
of  which  he  became  a  professor.  In  1772  his  father,  Dr. 
John  Bard,  retired  to  the  country,  when  he  succeeded  him 
in  practice,  and  became  eminent.  Averse  to  war,  unwilling 
to  break  off  connection  with  England,  and  to  mingle  in  the 
turmoils  of  the  time,  he  joined  his  father  at  Hyde  Park,  in 
1775.  Other  removals  followed  ;  but  he  finally  settled  in 
New  Jersey.  He  returned  to  New  York  after  the  Royal 
Army  took  possession,  and  found  himself  an  object  of  suspic 
ion,  and  of  utter  neglect.  Reduced  to  his  last  guinea,  he 
accidentally  met  the  mayor,  (Matthews)  who  treated  him 
kindly,  and  who,  by  his  good  offices  subsequently,  was  the 
means  of  restoring  him  to  the  confidence  of  his  former  friends. 

O 

The  leaders  of  the  Royal  party  became  at  last  his  frequent 
guests.  At  the  peace  he  was  urged  to  leave  the  country  on 
account  of  his  known  associations  and  political  sentiments  ; 
but  he  declined.  After  the  Federal  Government  was  organ 
ized,  he  was  Washington's  family  physician.  He  died  in 
1821,  in  his  eightieth  year  ;  his  wife  departed  just  one  day 
before  him,  and  a  common  grave  received  their  remains. 
The  universal  testimony  is,  that  he  possessed  almost  every 
virtue  which  adorns  manhood. 

BARDAN,  JOHN.     Arrested  by  Lieutenant  Nowell,  he  was 

asked  what  he  intended  to  do  with  the  Rebels,  and  answered  : 

—  "Kill  them,  as  fast  as  I  can."     Nowell  released  him   on 

payment  of  seven   dollars  in  paper  currency,  and  was  tried 


BAHFIELD.  —  BARNES.  209 

by  a  court-martial,  and  ';  dismissed  from  the  army  with 
infamy." 

BARFIELD,  -  — .  Captain  of  a  company  of  Tories.  In 
an  affair  with  tlie  Whig  partisan  Melton,  he  was  successful. 
Gabriel  Marion,  a  nephew  of  the  General,  fell  into  his  hands, 
and  as  soon  as  recognized,  was  put  to  death.  "  His  name  was 
fatal  to  him." 

BARKER,  WILLIAM.  Of  Maine.  Born  in  England  in 
1784 ;  emigrated  to  Massachusetts  about  the  year  1774  ; 
removed  to  the  Kennebec  River  in  1775.  "  Opposed  to  the 
Revolution  at  heart,"  but  did  not  often  publicly  avow  his 
opinions.  In  the  course  of  the  war  he  lived  a  year  or  two 
in  Dresden.  The  Whigs  annoyed  him  in  various  ways,  but 
he  did  not  leave  the  country.  He  died  at  Gardiner,  in  1822. 
Dorothy,  his  wife,  died  in  1814.  One  daughter,  Nancy, 
married  Peter  Grant  ;  another,  Elizabeth,  was  the  wife  of 
Joshua  Lord. 

BARKER,  JOSHUA.  He  entered  the  British  Army  during 
the  French  war,  and  served  with  distinction  in  the  West 
Indie^.  After  he  attained  the  rank  of  captain,  he  retired  on 
half-pay.  In  the  Revolution,  he  "was  as  little  obnoxious  as 
perhaps  any  man  in  his  situation  could  be  ;  always  wishing 
for  the  blessings  of  peace,  and  the  good  of  his  country."  In 
his  address  he  was  courteous  and  graceful  ;  in  his  temper, 
calm  ;  in  his  counsels,  clear  and  determined.  He  bore  a  long 
indisposition  with  fortitude  and  resignation.  He  died  at  Hing- 
ham,  Massachusetts,  in  1785,  aged  seventy-three. 

BARNARD,  JOHN.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  in 
1745,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1762.  He 
went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  merchant.  He 
died  in  1785,  aged  forty. 

BARNARD,  THOMAS.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Settled 
in  Nova  Scotia,  and  died  at  Yarmouth,  about  the  year  1833. 

BARNES,  HENRY.  Merchant  of  Marlborough,  Massachu 
setts.  He  was  a  magistrate  and  a  man  of  some  note.  The 
records  of  the  town,  however,  as  examined  by  a  friend,  show 
hardly  more  than  that  he  distilled  a  liquor  from  cider,  which 
18* 


210  BARNES. 

he  exported,  and  which  he  petitioned  the  selectmen  for  leave 
to  sell  there  at  retail. 

Towards  the  close  of  February,  1775,  General  Gage  ordered 
Captain  Brown  and  Ensign  D'Bernicre,  to  go  through  the 
Counties  of  Suffolk  and  Worcester,  and  to  sketch  the  roads  as 
they  went,  for  his  information,  "  as  he  expected  to  have  occa 
sion  to  march  troops  through  that  country  the  ensuing  spring." 
The  two  officers  set  out  from  Boston,  disguised  like  countrymen 
in  brown  clothes  and  reddish  handkerchiefs  round  their  necks. 
Their  adventures  until  their  arrival  at  Marlborough,  do  not  be 
long  to  this  sketch.  Recommended  to  Mr.  Barnes  "  as  a  friend 
to  government,"  they  found  his  house  in  a  snow-storm,  discov 
ered  themselves,  and  were  told  by  him,  that  they  need  not  be 
at  "  the  pains  of  telling  him,  he  knew  their  situation."  That 
"  the  town  was  very  violent,"  that  "  they  could  be  safe  no 
where  but  in  his  house,"  and  that  "  they  had  been  expected 
the  night  before,"  &c.,  &c.  The  people  were  suspicious,  and 
began  to  assemble  in  groups  in  all  parts  of  the  village.  Mes 
sages  were  sent  to  Barnes,  and  other  circumstances  occurred, 
which,  after  the  lapse  of  twenty  minutes,  compelled  him  to 
declare  to  his  guests  that  they  would  be  attacked,  and  that 
he  could  not  protect  them.  He  accordingly  took  them  out  of 
his  house  by  the  stables,  and  directed  them  to  a  by-road. 
They  made  their  escape  to  the  tavern  of  Jones,  the  Tory 
landlord  of  Western  ;  "it  snowed  and  blew,"  relates  one  of 
them,  "  as  much  as  I  ever  see  it  in  my  life." 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  November,  1775,  the 
"  Petition  of  Henry  Knox l  humbly  showeth :  That  your 
petitioner  having  been  obliged  to  leave  all  his  goods  and 
house  furniture  in  Boston,  which  he  has  no  prospect  of  ever 
getting  possession  of  again,  nor  any  equivalent  for  the  same, 
therefore  begs  the  Honorable  Court,  if  they  in  their  wisdom 
see  fit,  to  permit  him  to  exchange  house  furniture  with  Henry 
Barnes,  late  of  Marlborough,  which  he  now  has  it  in  his  power 
to  do."  The  prayer  was  refused;  but  the  Whig  was  allowed 

l  Subsequently,  Chief  of  Artillery  in  the  Continental  Army,  and  Secre 
tary  at  War  under  Washington. 


BARNES.  —  BARRELL,  211 

to  use  the  Loyalist's  household  goods,  on  giving  receipt  to  ac- 

v  C1  O  J^  1 

count  for  them  to  the  proper  authorities. 

In  December,  1775,  Catharine  Goldthwait  prayed  the  in 
terposition  of  the  General  Court,  stating  in  a  petition  that 
she  was  the  niece  and  adopted  heir  of  Barnes  ;  that  she  had 
resided  with  him  about  seventeen  years  ;  that  at  his  depart 
ure  from  town,  she  was  left  with  a  part  of  his  family  in  pos 
session,  and  that  the  committee  of  Marlborough  had  entered 
upon  his  estate,  sold  a  part,  and  proposed  to  dispossess  her 
entirely.  Barnes  went  to  England.  In  1777  he  was  at 
Bristol  with  his  wife  and  niece,  and  in  September,  thirteen 
of  his  fellow  Loyalists  were  his  guests  ;  and,  later  still  the 
same  year,  he  dined  with  several  of  the  Massachusetts  exiles 
at  Mr.  Lechmere's,  when  the  conversation  was  much  about 
the  political  condition  of  their  native  land. 

In  1778,  Mr.  Barnes  was  proscribed  and  banished.  In 
1781  he  supped  with  one  of  his  countrymen,  who  told  him 
that  the  people  of  the  Old  Bay  State  complained  of  Congress 
and  of  their  French  allies,  without  restraint.  He  died  at  Lon 
don  in  1808,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

BARNES,  JOSHUA.  A  captain  in  DeLancey's  corps.  In 
1778,  the  Whig  Major  Leavenworth,  of  Massachusetts,  hear 
ing  that  Barnes  was  out  on  a  plundering  expedition,  formed 
the  plan  of  capturing  him ;  and,  leading  him  into  an  ambus 
cade,  took  him  with  his  full  company  of  sixty-four,  prisoners. 

BARNES,  JOHN.  Of  New  Jersey.  Sheriff  of  the  County 
of  Hunterdon.  After  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he 
refused  to  act  under  the  Whigs  ;  and,  when  summoned  before 
the  State  Convention,  said  he  was  willing  to  be  superseded. 
In  1778,  he  was  a  major  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers. 

BARRELL,  WALTER.  Of  Boston.  Inspector-General  of 
the  Customs.  In  his  religious  sentiments  he  was,  with  his 
family  of  five  persons,  a  follower  of  Robert  Sandeman  ;  he 
embarked  at  Boston  with  the  British  Army  in  1776,  for  Hal 
ifax,  and  arrived  in  England  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year. 
In  1779  he  was  a  member  of  the  Loyalist  Association  formed 
in  London  ;  his  second  daughter,  Polly,  died  in  London  in  1810. 


212  BARRELL.  —  BARRY. 

BARRELL,  COLBURN.  Of  Boston.  At  the  Boston  Latin 
School  in  1744.  With  his  wife  and  daughter,  the  guest  of 
John  Adams  in  1771.  An  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  and  a 
Protestor  against  the  Whigs  in  1774.  He  was  at  New  York 
in  1783,  and  one  of  the  fifty-five  petitioners  for  lands  in  Nova 
Scotia.  [See  Abijali  Willard.~\  He  was  a  Sandemanian. 

BARRETT,  CHARLES.  Of  Ipswich,  New  Hampshire.  He 
was  born  in  Concord.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  he  was  a 
man  of  property  and  influence,  and  in  command  of  a  company 
of  militia.  He  wras  fearless  in  his  utterance  against  the  meas 
ures  of  the  Whigs ;  was  often  involved  in  difficulty,  and  suf 
fered  many  indignities.  At  one  time,  by  vote  of  the  town, 
he  was  confined  to  the  limits  of  his  own  farm.  He  gave  his 
adhesion  to  the  new  State  government  at  the  peace,  and  was 
a  delegate  to  the  Convention  to  consider  the  Federal  Consti- 

£3 

tution,  when,  it  would  seem,  he  was  an  ultra  Democrat.  He 
opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  with  warmth  ;  and, 
as  relates  to  the  Executive,  said  that  "  The  Presidents  will 
be  four-year  old  Kings,  and  soon  Kings  for  life."  He  died  in 
1808. 

BARROX,  WILLIAM.  Of  Petersham,  Massachusetts.  Prior 
to  the  Revolution,  he  held  a  commission  in  the  British  Army. 
In  the  struggle,  his  sympathies  were  entirely  with  the  Crown  ; 
but  he  was  not  active.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  refined  man 
ners,  and  a  brave  soldier.  He  died  at  Petersham  in  1784, 
greatly  lamented.  Two  of  his  sons  graduated  at  Harvard 
University ;  William  Amherst,  who  was  a  tutor  there  in 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  and  who  died  unmar 
ried,  in  1825  ;  and  Thomas,  who  studied  law,  was  some 
time  in  England,  and  died,  probably,  in  Ohio,  in  1830,  or 
the  next  year.  John  Quincy  Adams  was  a  classmate  of 
William  Amherst. 

BARRY,  ROBERT.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  he  em 
barked  at  New  Y'ork  for  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia.  He  became 
an  eminent  merchant,  established  branch-houses  in  various 
parts  of  the  Province,  and  his  name  is  connected  with  the 
largest  of  the  early  commercial  enterprises  of  Nova  Scotia. 


BARRY.  -  BARTON.  213 

He  was  distinguished  for  qualities  which  adorn  the  Christian 
character,  and  throughout  life  was  highly  esteemed.  His 
death  occurred  at  Liverpool,  Nova  Scotia,  September,  1843, 
in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

BARRY,  "W.  Lieutenant  in  the  Royal  Foresters.  He 
died  of  a  fever  in  October,  1781,  near  Hellgate,  New 
York,  and  was  buried  at  Hallet's  Cove,  with  the  honors 
of  war. 

BARTON,  THOMAS.  An  Episcopal  minister.  He  gradu 
ated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  in  1754,  was  sent  by 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  to  the  new 
Mission  in  the  Counties  of  York  and  Cumberland,  Penn 
sylvania.  His  post  was  on  the  frontier,  and  his  duties  par 
ticularly  onerous.  "  He  had  to  ride  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  miles  every  six  weeks,  to  attend  his  three  congregations, 
and,  often  at  the  head  of  his  people,  went  to  oppose  the  sav 
ages."  In  1758,  he  was  chaplain  to  the  expedition  against 
Fort  Duquesnc,  and  formed  the  acquaintance  of  several  dis 
tinguished  persons.  In  1770  he  received  the  degree  of  A.  M. 
from  King's  College,  New  York.  Adhering  to  the  Royal  cause, 
subsequently,  he  was  first  confined  to  the  limits  of  his  coun 
ty,  and  finally  to  his  house.  In  November,  177G,  he  wrote  : 
"  I  have  been  obliged  to  shut  up  my  churches,  to  avoid  the 
fury  of  the  populace,  who  would  not  suffer  the  Liturgy  to  be 
used,  unless  the  Collects  and  Prayers  for  the  King  and  Royal 
Family  were  omitted,  which  neither  my  conscience  nor  the 
declaration  I  made  and  subscribed  when  ordained,  would 
allow  me  to  comply  with  ;  and,  although  I  used  every  pru 
dent  step  to  give  no  offence  even  to  those  who  usurped  author 
ity  and  rule  ....  yet,  my  life  and  property  have  been 
threatened,  upon  mere  suspicion  of  being  unfriendly  to  what 
is  called  the  American  cause." 

After  a  restraint  of  two  years,  and  in  November,  1778,  he 
withdrew  to  New  York.  His  loss  of  liberty  occasioned  a  dis 
ease,  of  which  he  died  May  25,  1780.  The  Memoirs  of  Rit- 
tenhouse  were  written  by  his  son  William  Barton.  Another 
son,  Benjamin  Smith  Barton,  doctor  of  medicine,  was  a  distin- 


214  BARTON.  — BASS. 

guislied  professor  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  suc 
ceeded  the  celebrated  Rush.  Professor  Barton  was  the  first 
American  who  published  an  elementary  work  on  botany. 

BARTON,  THOMAS.  Colonel,  and  in  command  of  a  body  of 
Loyalists.  Three  incidents  occur  in  1777  :  First,  that  he  at 
tempted  to  cnt  off  a  party  of  Whig  militia,  and  was  defeated. 
Second,  that  he  was  successful  against  a  detachment  of  Whigs 
at  Paramus.  Third,  that  he  was  captured  on  Staten  Island, 
with  about  forty  of  his  men,  and  sent  to  Ne\v  Jersey.  At  the 
peace  he  retired  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  received  a  large  grant  of 
land  at  Digby.  He  died  about  the  year  1790.  His  family 
returned  to  the  United  States. 

BARTRAM,  JOHN.  Of  Pennsylvania.  An  eminent  botanist. 
He  was  born  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1701.  His 
taste  was  for  botany,  from  his  youth,  and  in  this  department 
he  became  so  eminent  as  to  be  appointed  American  botanist 
to  George  the  Third.  The  first  botanic  garden  in  this  country 
was  founded  by  him  on  the  Schuylkill,  about  four  miles  below 
Philadelphia.  He  was  so  earnest  in  pursuit  of  knowledge  that 
he  hardly  allowed  himself  time  to  eat.  He  was  a  proficient 
in  the  learned  languages,  in  medicine  and  surgery,  and  in 
natural  history.  Linnaeus  pronounced  that  he  was  "the 
greatest  natural  botanist  in  the  world."  Besides  these  ac 
complishments,  he  was  an  ingenious  mechanic  ;  built  his  own 
stone  house,  and  made  most  of  his  own  farming  tools  and  other 
articles  required  on  his  estate.  He  was  gentle  in  manners, 
amiable  in  disposition,  modest,  and  charitable.  Pie  died  in 
1777,  aged  seventy-five. 

His  son,  William,  who  was  elected  Professor  of  Botany  in 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1782,  but  declined  on  ac 
count  of  ill  health,  deceased  in  1823,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 
His  youngest  son,  John,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  botanic 
garden  above  mentioned,  died  in  1812. 

BASS,  REV.  EDWAKD,  D.  D.  First  Bishop  of  Massachu 
setts.  He  was  born  in  Dorchester  in  1726,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1744.  He  fitted  for  the  ministry  as  a 
Congregationalist.  Ordained  in  England  in  1752  ;  he  was 


BATES.  -  BAUM.  215 

Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Newburyport,  fifty-one  years. 
Elected  Bishop  of  Massachusetts  in  1797,  his  jurisdiction 
was  subsequently  extended  over  the  Episcopalian  churches 
in  Rhode  Island  and  New  Hampshire.  His  course  in  the 
Revolution  is  in  dispute ;  but.  of  his  loyalty  I  entertain  no 
doubt.  He  died  at  Newburyport  in  1803,  after  two  days 
illness,  aged  seventy-seven.  A  marble  monument  has  been 
erected  to  his  memory.  "He  was  a  sound  divine,  a  critical 
scholar,  an  accomplished  gentleman,  and  an  exemplary  Chris 
tian." 

BATES,  WALTER.  Of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  In  the 
spring  of  1783  he  arrived  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in 
the  ship  Union.  He  settled  in  King's  County,  and  for  many 
years  was  its  sheriff.  He  died  at  Kingston  in  that  county  in 
1842,  aged  eighty-two. 

BATWELL,  REV.  DANIEL.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Episcopal 
minister  in  York  and  Cumberland  Counties.  He  received  a 
grant  of  land  from  the  Proprietaries  of  the  Colony  near  Car 
lisle.  Soon  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  he  became 
an  active  Loyalist,  was  apprehended  and  committed  to  York 
jail.  Congress  gave  him  leave  to  dispose  of  his  personal  es 
tate,  and  to  remove  with  his  family  to  the  city  of  New  York. 
In  1782  he  was  chaplain  of  the  third  battalion  of  the  New 
Jersey  Volunteers.  He  went  to  England,  and  died  there. 

BAUM,  JEREMIAH.  Of  Maine.  He  was  tried  by  a  court- 
martial,  and  executed  in  Maine  in  1780,  by  General  Wads- 
worth,  who  commanded  the  Eastern  department  between  the 
Piscataqua  and  the  St.  Croix.  This  act  of  severity  gave  the 
General  himself  great  pain,  and  was  condemned  by  many 
Whigs  ;  but  it  appears  to  have  been  necessary,  and  to  have 
checked  the  treacherous  intercourse  of  the  eastern  Tories 
with  their  British  friends  who  held  Castine. 

Eaton,  in  his  history  of  Warren,  thus  relates  the  transac 
tion  :  — 

"  General  Wadsworth  '  issued  a  proclamation  denouncing 
death  upon  any  one  convicted  of  aiding  or  secreting  the 
enemy.  Subsequent  to  the  proclamation,  a  man  by  the  name 


216  BAXTER. 

of  Jeremiah  Baum,  residing  back  of  Damariscotta,  was  taken 
up,  charged  with  piloting  a  party  of  the  British  through  the 
back  country  for  the  purpose  of  pillaging.  He  was  tried  on 
the  twenty-third  and  twenty-fourth  of  August,  by  a  court- 
martial  at  Wadsworth's  head-quarters,  condemned  and  sen 
tenced  to  be  hung."  Many  efforts  were  made  to  procure  his 
pardon,  but  Gen.  W.  remained  inflexible. 

"  On  the  day  after  the  sentence,  a  gallows  was  erected  on 
Limestone  Hill,  and  the  miserable  man  was  conducted  to  it  in 
a  cart,  fainting  at  the  sight,  and  rendered  insensible  from  fear. 
Mr.  Coombs,  who  was  standing  near,  was  asked  to  lend  his 
handkerchief  to  tie  over  the  prisoner's  eyes.  Supposing  it  a 
farce,  he  complied;  and  the  prisoner,  to  appearance  already 
dead,  was  swung  off,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  spectators. 
The  General  was  greatly  moved,  and  was  observed  walking 
his  room  in  apparent  agitation  the  most  of  the  following  day. 
Many  friends  of  the  Revolution  regretted  that  such  an  ex 
ample  of  severity,  however  necessary,  should  fall  on  such  a 
victim." 

BAXTER,  SIMON.  Of  New  Hampshire.  Was  proscribed 
and  banished,  and  lost  his  estate  under  the  Confiscation  Act. 
He  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  party  of  Whigs  during  the  war, 
and  was  condemned  to  die.  When  brought  out  for  execution, 
he  broke  and  fled  with  the  rope  about  his  neck,  and  succeeded 
in  reaching  Burgoyne's  army.  He  went  to  New  Brunswick 
at  the  peace,  and  died  at  Norton,  King's  County,  in  1804, 
aged  seventy-four.  His  widow,  Prudence,  died  the  same 
year,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three. 

BAXTER,  STEPHEN.  Of  Bedford,  New  York.  He  made 
humble  confession  at  Stamford,  Connecticut,  December  1775, 
that  he  "  had  opposed  the  liberties  of  America  by  horrid  curs 
ing  and  profane  swearing,"  and  lie  asked  the  forgiveness  of 
those  whom  he  had  abused  personally,  and  of  the  Whigs  gen 
erally.  But  a  "Recantcr"  was  still  a  Tory;  and  in  1783 
he  went  to  Nova  Scotia. 

BAXTER,  JOSEPH.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  and  died 
there.  Joanna,  his  widow,  died  in  that  Province  in  1842, 
aged  eighty-six. 


BAXTER.  -  BAYARD.  217 

BAXTER,  ELIJAH.  Died  at  Norton,  King's  County,  New 
Brunswick,  in  1852. 

BAYARD,  SAMUEL  VETCH.  Of  New  York.  In  1777  Gov 
ernor  Tryon  appointed  him  to  succeed  Golden  as  Surveyor 
and  Searcher  of  the  Customs,  and  said  to  Lord  George  Ger 
main  :  "  From  the  steady  loyalty  of  his  father,  and  the  depre 
dations  made  on  his  estate,  and  in  consideration  that  his  two 
sons  are  now  in  the  Provincial  service,  I  rest  in  absolute  con 
fidence  that  his  Majesty  will  confirm  my  appointment  in  oppo 
sition  to  all  solicitations  whatever." 

I  find  the  death  of  a  Samuel  Vetch  Bayard,  at  Wilmot, 
Nova  Scotia,  in  1832,  aged  seventy-five.  Possibly,  one  of  the 
"  sons  "  mentioned  by  Tryon,  as  it  is  said  "  he  served  under 
the  Crown,  and  was  a  military  officer." 

BAYARD,  SAMUEL.  Of  New  York.  In  1774  lie  was  en 
gaged  in  a  controversy  with  other  proprietors  of  lands  in 
New  York,  and  in  behalf  of  himself  and  associates,  submitted 
a  memorial  to  the  British  Government,  praying  to  be  put  in 
quiet  possession  of  a  part  of  the  tract  called  the  Westenhook 
Patent.  After  General  Lee  took  command  in  the  city  in 
1776,  Mr.  Bayard  was  made  prisoner,  and  placed  under 
guard  at  the  house  of  Nicholas  Bayard.  He  entered  the 
service  of  the  Crown,  and  in  1782  was  major  of  the  King's 
Orange  Rangers. 

BAYARD,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  York.  Head  of  the  mer 
cantile  house  of  William  Bayard  &  Co.  He  was  associated 
with  Jay,  Lewis,  and  others,  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Fifty,  and  he  appears  to  have  been  of  Whig  sympathies  at  the 
beginning  of  the  controversy.  In  177o,  Mr.  Quincy,  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  on  his  return  from  the  South,  passed  through  New 
York,  and  recorded  in  his  journal,  under  the  date  of  May 
12th,  —  "  Spent  the  morning  in  writing  and  roving,  and  dined 
with  Colonel  William  Bayard  at  his  seat  on  the  North  River." 
In  1775  the  Massachusetts  delegates  to  the  Continental  Con 
gress  were  his  guests  also.  In  17 70  he  was  an  Addresser  of 
Lord  and  Sir  William  Howe.  He  went  to  England,  and  his 
property  was  confiscated.  Governor  Franklin  recommended 

VOL.    I.  19 


218  BAYLEY.  -  BEACH. 

him  to  Lord  George  Germain,  for  relief.  He  died  very  acred, 
in  1804,  at  his  seat,  Greenwich  House,  Southampton,  Eng 
land. 

BAYLEY,  RICHARD.  Of  New  York.  An  eminent  physician. 
He  was  born  in  Connecticut  in  1745,  and  in  1769  and  1770 
attended  lectures  and  hospitals  in  London.  In  1772  he  began 
practice  in  New  York,  and  his  attention  was  early  attracted  to 
the  croup,  which  professional  men  had  treated  as  putrid  sore 
throat.  His  experiments  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  active 
treatment,  and  in  an  entire  change  of  remedies  for  that  for 
midable  disease.  In  1776  he  was  in  the  British  Army  under 
Howe,  as  a  surgeon,  but  incapable  of  enduring  separation  from 
his  wrife,  he  resigned  just  before  her  decease  in  1777.  For 
the  remainder  of  his  life  he  \vas  engaged  in  duties  of  a  profes 
sional  kind.  He  occupied  the  chairs  of  anatomy  and  surgery 
in  Columbia  College,  and  published  letters  and  essays  on  med 
ical  subjects.  He  died  in  1801,  aged  fifty-six.  He  is  repre 
sented  as  a  man  of  high  temper,  strong  in  his  attachments,  in 
vincible  in  his  dislikes,  and  of  honorable,  chivalrous  character. 

BAYLEY,  PHILIP.  Of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  In 
1775  he  signed  and  published  a  Submission,  or  Recantation, 
in  which  he  asked  forgiveness  for  the  past,  and  promised  that 
his  future  conduct  should  convince  the  public  that  he  would 
risk  his  life  and  interest  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  the  coun 
try.  In  his  case,  as  in  several  others,  the  written  recantation 
was  probably  extorted  from  an  unwilling  mind  to  avert  some 
impending  blow.  Many  recanters  went  into  exile.  Bayley, 
in  1778,  was  proscribed  and  banished.  The  captain-lieutenant 
of  the  Royal  Fencible  Americans  in  1782  was  Philip  Bailey, 
and,  possibly,  the  subject  of  this  notice. 

BEACH,  REV.  ABRAHAM,  D.  D.  Episcopal  minister.  He 
was  born  in  Cheshire,  Connecticut,  in  1740,  and  graduated  at 
Yale  College  in  1757.  He  went  to  England  for  ordination  in 
1767,  and  was  appointed  missionary  at  New  Brunswick,  and 
Piscataqua,  New  Jersey.  In  July,  1776,  he  was  told  that  un 
less  he  omitted  prayers  for  the  King  and  Royal  Family,  he 
must  discontinue  service  on  the  Sabbath.  As  he  would  not 


BEACH.  219 

consent  to  this  condition,  lie  shut  the  churches  in  which  he 
officiated.  In  a  few  months,  however,  worship  was  resumed 
in  one  of  them.  Early  in  1777  he  said :  "  My  present  con 
dition  is  truly  distressing,  being  situated  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  beyond  the  picket-guard  of  the  King's  troops.  Parties 
of  Washington's  army  are  every  day  skulking  about  me.  A 
few  days  ago,  they  drove  off  my  cattle,  horses  and  sheep  ;  and 
since  I  sat  down  to  write  this  letter,  about  fifty  of  them  sur 
rounded  my  house,  and  fired  from  thence  on  the  out-sentry 
of  the  Hessians,"  £c.  Until  the  peace,  he  continued  in  his 
perilous  position,  but,  u  dispensing  spiritual  consolation  alike 
to  Whigs  and  Tories."'  In  1783  he  was  appointed  temporary 
missionary  at  Amboy  ;  and  in  1784,  assistant  minister  of 
Trinity  Church,  New  York.  After  twenty -nine  years'  duty, 
and  in  1813,  he  resigned  ;  when  the  Vestry,  "  in  consideration 
of  his  very  long  and  faithful  services  in  the  church,  as  one  of 
its  most  faithful  pastors,  granted  him  an  annuity  of  =£1500  for 
life,  secured  by  bond,  under  seal  of  the  Corporation."  He 
retired  to  his  farm  on  the  Raritan  River,  where  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  lie  died  in  1828,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
eight.  His  wife  Ann,  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  Evart  Van 
Winkle,  one  of  the  original  Dutch  settlers  of  New  Jersey, 
died  in  1808.  "  In  his  intercourse  with  society,  no  man  could 

be  more  frank  or  more  free  from  all  guile While 

his  dignified  person,  expressive  countenance,  and  lively  feel 
ings,  commanded  the  respect  and  affection  of  all  who  knew 
him." 

BEACH,  REV.  Joiix.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1721,  and  for  several  years  was  a  Congregational  minister  in 
Connecticut  ;  but  finally  became  an  Episcopalian.  In  1732 
he  went  to  England  for  ordination,  and  on  his  return,  was 
employed  as  an  Episcopalian  missionary  in  Reading  and  New- 
town,  Connecticut.  After  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
he  continued  to  pray  for  the  King,  and  to  give  other  evidence 
of  his  loyalty.  His  course  gave  great  displeasure  to  the  Whigs, 
and  he  suffered  at  their  hands.  He  died  in  March,  1782. 
Durino-  his  life,  he  was  engaged  in  one  or  more  religious 


220  BEACH. 

controversies.  Several  of  his  compositions  of  this  description, 
and  a  number  of  sermons,  were  published.  The  following 
extracts  from  two  of  his  letters  to  the  Society  for  the  Prepa 
ration  of  the  Gospel,  whose  missionary  he  was,  contain  inter 
esting  information.  The  last,  as  will  be  seen,  was  dated  only 
a  few  months  before  his  death. 

a  NEWTOWN,  May  5,  1772. 

"  As  it  is  now  forty  years  since  I  have  had  the  advantage 
of  being  the  venerable  Society's  missionary  in  this  place,  I 
suppose  it  will  not  be  improper  to  give  a  brief  account  how  I 
have  spent  my  time,  and  improved  their  charity.  Every  Sun 
day  I  have  performed  divine  service,  and  preached  twice,  at 
Newtown  and  Reading  alternately.  And  in  these  forty  years 
I  have  lost  only  two  Sundays  through  sickness  ;  although  in 
all  that  time  I  have  been  afflicted  with  a  constant  colic,  which 
has  not  allowed  me  one  day's  ease  or  freedom  from  pain. 
The  distance  between  the  churches  at  Newtown  and  Reading 
is  between  eight  and  nine  miles,  and  no  very  good  road,  yet 
have  I  never  foiled  one  time  to  attend  each  place  according  to 
custom,  through  the  badness  of  the  weather,  but  have  rode  it 
in  the  severest  rains  and  snow-storms,  even  when  there  has 
been  no  track,  and  my  horse  near  miring  down  in  the  snow 
banks,  which  has  had  this  good  effect  on  my  parishioners, 
that  they  are  ashamed  to  stay  from  church  on  account  of 
bad  weather,  so  that  they  are  remarkably  forward  to  attend 
the  public  worship.  As  to  my  labors  without  my  parish,  I 
have  formerly  performed  divine  service  in  many  towns  where 
the  Common-prayer  had  never  been  heard,  nor  the  Scriptures 
read  in  public  ;  and  where  now  are  flourishing  congregations 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  in  some  places  where  there 
never  had  been  any  public  worship  at  all,  or  any  sermon 
preached  by  any  preacher  of  any  denomination. 

"  In  my  travelling  to  preach  the  Gospel,  once  was  my  life 
remarkably  preserved  in  passing  a  deep  and  rapid  river.  The 
retrospect  on  my  fatigues,  as  lying  on  straw,  &c.,  gives  me 
pleasure,  while  I  flatter  myself  that  my  labor  has  not  been 


BEACH.  221 

quite  in  vain,  for  the  Church  of  England  people  are  increased 
much  more  than  twenty  to  one  ;  and  what  is  infinitely  more 
pleasing,  many  of  them  are  remarkable  for  piety  and  virtue ; 
and  the  Independents  here  are  more  knowing  in  matters  of 
religion  than  they  who  live  at  a  great  distance  from  our 
church.  We  live  in  harmony  and  peace  with  each  other, 
and  the  rising  generation  of  the  Independents  seem  to  be 
entirely  free  from  every  pique  and  prejudice  against  the 
church,  &c.,  &c. 

"  JOHN  BEACH." 

"NEWTOWN,  October  31,  1781. 
"  It  is  a  lono1  time  since  I  have  done  my  duty  in  writino-  to 

r")  i/  i/  O 

the  venerable  Society,  not  owing  to  my  carelessness,  but  to  the 
impossibility  of  conveyance  from  here,  and  now  do  it  sparingly. 
A  narrative  of  my  troubles  I  dare  not  now  give.  My  two 
congregations  are  growing ;  that  of  Reading  being  commonly 
about  three  hundred,  and  at  Newtown  about  six  hundred.  I 
baptize  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  children  in  one  year, 
and  lately  two  adults.  Newtown,  and  the  Church  of  England 
part  of  Reading  are,  (I  believe,)  the  only  parts  of  New  England 
that  have  refused  to  comply  with  the  doings  of  the  Congress, 
and  for  that  reason  have  been  the  butt  of  general  hatred  ;  but 
God  has  delivered  us  from  entire  destruction.  I  am  now  in 
the  eighty-second  year  of  my  age,  yet  do  constantly  alter 
nately  perform  and  preach  at  Newtown  and  Reading.  I  have 
been  sixty  years  a  public  preacher,  and,  after  conviction,  in 
the  Church  of  England  fifty  years ;  but  had  I  been  sensible 
of  my  insufficiency,  I  should  not  have  undertaken  it.  But 
now  I  rejoice  in  that  I  think  I  have  done  more  good  towards 
men's  eternal  happiness  than  I  should  have  done  in  any  other 
calling.  I  do  most  heartily  thank  the  venerable  Society  for 
their  liberal  support,  and  beg  that  they  will  accept  of  this, 
which  is,  I  believe,  my  last  bill,  £325,  which,  according  to 
former  custom,  is  due. 

u  At  this  age  I  cannot  well  hope  for  it,  but  I  pray  God  I 
may  have  an   opportunity  to  explain  myself  with  safety  ;  but 
19* 


222  BEAMAN.  —  BEARDSLEY. 

must  conclude  now  with  Job's  expression  —  '  Have  pity  upon 
me,  have  pity  upon  me,  O  ye  my  friends.' ' 

BEAMAN,  THOMAS.  Of  Petersham,  Massachusetts.  Cap 
tain.  In  1770,  he  claimed  that  a  school-house  in  town  was 
on  his  land,  and  to  prevent  the  obnoxious  Whig  school-master 
from  entering  it,  [see  Ensign  Man^\  he  locked  it.  How  and 
Man  broke  in,  and  Beaman  commenced  a  suit  for  trespass  ; 
the  case  was  in  the  courts  for  some  time  ;  the  costs  were  con 
siderable,  and  finally  paid  by  the  defendants.  April,  1775, 
Beaman  acted  as  a  guide  to  the  British  troops  on  their  march 
to  Lexington  and  Concord.  He  fled  to  Nova  Scotia.  In 

O 

1778  lie  was  proscribed  and  banished. 

BEAN,  THOMAS.  He  went  from  New  York  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1783,  and  of  the  latter  city  was  a  grantee. 
He  and  Dowling  were  contractors  for  the  building  of  Trinity 
Church,  St.  John.  He  died  at  Portland,  New  Brunswick,  in 
1823,  aged  seventy-nine. 

BEARD,  -  — .  Of  North  Carolina.  Captain  of  Tories. 
After  a  bloody  affray  in  the  house  of  a  Whig,  whose  daughter 
had  refused  his  hand,  he  was  captured,  tried  by  a  court-mar 
tial,  and  hung. 

BEAIIDSLEY,  REV.  JOHN.  Of  Poughkcepsie,  New  York. 
Episcopal  minister.  He  was  born  in  Stratford,  Connecticut, 
in  1732.  He  entered  Yale  College,  but  did  not  graduate  ; 

O     '  O  / 

King's  (now  Columbia)  College,  New  York,  however,  con 
ferred  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  He  went  to  Eng 
land  for  ordination,  and  returned  early  in  1762.  In  addition 
to  the  performance  of  his  parochial  duties  at  Poughkeepsie,  he 
officiated  a  part  of  the  time  at  Fishkill.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  war  he  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Congress, 
and  suffered  indignities  in  consequence.  In  the  end,  his  prop 
erty  was  seized,  and  poor  and  even  destitute,  he  and  his  family 
took  refuge  in  New  York.  In  1778,  he  was  appointed  chap 
lain  in  the  Loyal  American  Regiment,  commanded  by  Bever- 
ley  Robinson,  who  had  been  a  chief  supporter  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  at  Fishkill.  At  the  peace,  Mr.  Beardsley  accompan 
ied  his  regiment  to  New  Brunswick.  After  many  depriva- 


BEARMORE.  -  BEDLE. 

tions  and  sufferings,  lie  was  settled  over  the  parish  in  Mau- 
gerville,  on  the  river  St.  John,  and  remained  there  more  than 
seventeen  years.  His  pastoral  relations  were  dissolved  in  con- 
sequcnce  of  his  infirmities.  He  retired  to  Kingston  in  that 
Province,  on  the  half-pay  of  a  chaplain,  and  died  there  in 
1810.  He  had  four  daughters.  The  eldest  married  a  Ger 
man  officer  who,  some  years  after  the  peace  of  1783,  returned 
with  his  wife  and  children  to  his  native  land.  His  son  John 
died  at  Woodstock,  New  Brunswick,  in  1852.  His  youngest 
son,  Hon.  Bartholomew  Crannel  Beardsley,  who  died  in  Can 
ada  West,  in  1855,  was  Chief  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  and  a  member  of  the  House  of  Assembly  of  New  Bruns 
wick.  His  grandson,  II.  II.  Beardsley,  of  Woodstock,  is 
(1852)  a  counsellor  at  law,  and  a  member  of  the  Assembly. 

BEAKMORE,  -  — .  Major  in  a  Loyalist  corps,  New  York. 
In  1.778,  he  attacked  a  Whig  force  of  about  forty,  quartered 
in  a  dwelling-house  and  barns.  He  was  taken  prisoner  the 
next  year,  much  to  the  joy  of  the  people  who  called  him  "  a 
troublesome  officer." 

BECKWITH,  NEHEMIAH.  He  settled  at  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  but  removed  to  Fredericton,  where  he  died  in 
1815. 

BECRAFT,  -  — .A  Tory  leader,  cruel,  and  noted  for  deeds 
of  blood.  He  boasted  to  his  associates  of  having  assisted  to 
massacre  the  family  of  a  Mr.  Vrooman,  in  Schoharie,  New 
York.  The  family,  he  said,  were  soon  despatched,  except 
a  boy  of  fourteen,  who  ran  from  the  house,  when  he  started 
in  pursuit,  overtook  him,  and  cut  his  throat,  took  his  scalp, 
and  hung  his  body  across  the  fence.  After  the  peace,  he  had 
the  hardihood  to  return  to  Schoharie.  He  was  seized,  stripped 
naked  and  bound  to  a  tree,  and  whipped  nearly  to  death  by 
ten  men,  some  of  whom  had  been  his  prisoners,  and  had  heard 
him  recount  this  exploit.  Thus  beaten,  he  was  dismissed  with 
a  charge  never  to  show  himself  in  that  country  again  ;  an  in 
junction  which  he  carefully  kept. 

BEDLE,  JOHN.  Of  Staten  Island,  New  York.  Born  in 
1757.  In  the  Revolution,  private  secretary  to  Colonel  Bil- 


224  BELL.  —  BENEDICT. 

lop.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was 
employed  a  year  or  two  in  surveying  that  city.  Removed  to 
Woodstock  about  the  year  1704,  where  he  was  a  magistrate 
for  forty  years  ;  and  after  the  division  of  York  County,  was  a 
magistrate,  a  Judge  of  Common  Pleas,  and  Register  of  Wills 
and  Deeds  for  the  County  of  Carlton  ;  he  died  in  1838,  aged 
eighty-three.  He  married  Margaret  Dibble,  now  (1852)  liv- 
ino-  at  the  ao-e  of  eio-htv-six.  His  children  were  ten  :  Wil- 

JT3  O  O         «/ 

liam  Jarvis  and  Paul  M.,  magistrates  ;  John,  a  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  ;  George  A.,  Register  of  Deeds  ; 
Joseph,  Tyler,  Walter  Dibble,  and  three  daughters. 

BELL,  ANDREW.  Of  New  Jersey.  Secretary  to  Sir  Henry 
Clinton.  A  diary  kept  by  him  during  the  march  of  the  Brit 
ish  Army,  prior  to  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  is  preserved  in 
the  Proceedings  of  the  New  Jersey  Historical  Society.  In 
1783  he  was  a  petitioner  for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  [See 
Alujali  Willard.~\  A  correspondent  who  knew  him  well, 
says,  he  "  esteemed  him  highly  for  his  probity,  intelligence, 
and  urbanity."  His  wife  was  Susannah,  daughter  of  Daniel 
O'Brien,  of  Perth  Amboy.  Governor  Paterson,  of  New  Jer 
sey,  married  his  sister.  He  died  without  children  in  1843. 

BELL,  JOSEPH.  Of  New  York.  He  was  born  in  Eng 
land,  and  emigrated  to  America  just  before  the  Revolution. 
He  settled  on  a  farm  near  Troy,  but  removed  to  the  city  of 
New  York.  At  the  peace,  having  suffered  much  for  his  loy 
alty,  he  went  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  in  command  of  a 
company  of  exiled  Loyalists,  accompanied  by  his  family  of 
three  and  a  servant.  In  1792  he  removed  to  Yarmouth, 
Nova  Scotia,  where  he  died  in  1829,  aged  eighty-nine.  His 
wife  died  in  1809  ;  but  two  children  survived  him.  One,  a 
daughter,  married  Joseph  Bond,  M.  D.,  who  arrived  at  New 
York  in  a  privateer,  who  volunteered  to  serve  in  the  army, 
was  present  at  the  capture  of  Cornwallis,  was  an  officer  of  the 
customs  and  sheriff  in  Nova  Scotia  after  the  war,  and  who 
died  in  1830,  aged  seventy-two,  leaving  ten  children. 

BENEDICT,  ELI.  Of  Danbury,  Connecticut.  Guide  to 
the  British  troops  to  his  native  town.  In  1782  an  ensign  in 


BENNERMAN.  —  BERNARD.  225 

the  Guides  and  Pioneers.  At  tlic  pence  he  returned  to  Dan- 
bury  with  the  intention  of  living  there.  Threatened  with  a 
ride  on  the  wooden-horse,  he  fled.  In  1799,  administration  on 
the  estate  of  a  person  of  this  name,  in  the  Province  of  New 
Brunswick. 

BENNERMAN,  JOHN.  Of  Portsmouth,  Virginia.  A  cap 
tain.  He  went  to  England,  and  was  one  of  "  his  Majesty's 
Band  of  Gentleman  Pensioners."  In  1781  he  married  a  Miss 
Holt  of  Lincolnshire.  He  died  in  England  in  1785. 

BERNARD,  SIR  THOMAS,  Baronet.  He  was  the  third 
son  of  Sir  Francis  Bernard,  Baronet,  Governor  of  Massa 
chusetts,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  17()7.  He 
went  to  England,  where  he  married  a  lady  of  fortune.  On 
the  death  of  his  brother,  Sir  John  Bernard — who  was  a 
Whig  —  he  succeeded  to  the  title.  His  time  was  much  de 
voted  to  institutions  of  benevolence  in  London  ;  and  he  wrote 
several  essays  with  a  design  to  mitigate  the  sorrows,  and  im 
prove  the  condition  of  the  humbler  classes  of  English  society. 
The  University  of  Edinburgh  conferred  on  him  the  decree 

t/  O  O 

of  Doctor  of  Laws.  He  died  in  England  in  1818.  Lady 
Bernard  died  in  181o,  while  preparing  to  go  to  church. 

BERNARD,  SIR  JOHN,  Baronet.  The  brother  of  Sir 
Thomas  —  above  mentioned  —  remained  in  America  ;  and, 
as  remarked,  was  a  Whig.  To  preserve  the  following  inci 
dents,  then,  is  the  reason  for  this  notice.  Soon  after  the 
Revolution  he  was  in  abject  poverty,  and  the  misfortunes 
of  himself  and  his  family  seem  to  have  unsettled  his  mind. 
When,  in  1769,  Sir  Francis  was  recalled  from  the  govern 
ment  of  Massachusetts,  he  possessed  a  considerable  landed 
estate  in  Maine,  of  which  the  large  island  of  Mount  Desert, 
Moose  Island,  (now  Eastport,)  and  some  territory  on  the 
main,  formed  a  part.  John,  at  or  about  the  time  of  his 
father's  departure,  had  an  agency  for  the  settlement  of  these 
and  other  lands  ;  and,  probably,  until  the  confiscation  of  the 
property  of  Sir  Francis,  in  1778,  was  in  comfortable  circum 
stances.  His  place  of  residence  during  the  war  appears  to 
have  been  at  Bath,  thouidi  he  was  sometimes  at  Machias. 


226  BERNARD.  —  BERGUYN. 

Not  long  after  the  peace,  lie  lived  at  Pleasant  Point,  a  few 
miles  from  Eastport,  in  a  small  hut  built  by  himself,  and 
with  no  companion  but  a  dog.  An  unbroken  wilderness  was 
around  him.  The  only  inhabitants  at  the  head  of  the  tide 
waters  of  the  St.  Croix  were  a  few  workmen,  preparing  to 
erect  a  saw-mill.  Robbinston  and  Perry  were  uninhabited. 
Eastport  contained  a  single  family.  Yet,  at  the  spot  now 
occupied  by  the  remnant  of  the  tribe  of  the  Passamaquoddy's, 
he  attempted  to  make  a  form.  He  had  been  bred  in  ease, 
had  hardly  done  a  day's  work  in  his  life  ;  and  yet  he  believed 
that  he  could  earn  a  competence  by  labor.  He  told  those 
who  saw  him,  that  "  other  young  men  went  into  the  woods, 
and  made  themselves  farms,  and  got  a  good  living,  and  he 
saw  no  reason  why  he  could  not/'  But  he  cut  down  a  few 
trees,  became  discouraged,  and  departed.  His  abject  condi 
tion  in  mind  and  estate  rendered  him  an  object  of  deep  com 
miseration  ;  and  his  conduct  during  hostilities  having  entitled 
him  to  consideration,  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  restored 
to  him  one  half  of  the  island  of  Mount  Desert.  Of  his  sub 
sequent  history,  while  he  continued  in  the  United  States,  but 
little  is  known  to  me.  He  came  to  Maine  occasionally,  and 
was  much  about  Boston.  Later  in  life  he  held  offices  under 
the  British  crown  at  Barbadoes  and  St.  Vincent ;  and  was 
known  as  Sir  John  Bernard,  Baronet.  He  died  in  the  West 
Indies  in  1809,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year,  without  issue,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother  Thomas. 

BERGUYN,  -  — .  Of  North  Carolina.  Was  in  Eng 
land,  June,  1778,  and  about  to  return  to  America,  on  news 
that  the  Assembly  of  that  State  had  voted  to  admit  all  Loy 
alists  who  might  apply.  In  1786  the  Commissioner  for  the 
district  of  Wilmington,  instead  of  selling  his  whole  property 
as  allowed  by  law,  consented  to  the  sale  of  a  part  of  it,  in  a 
manner  to  test  the  legality  of  the  Confiscation  Act  itself.  The 
next  year  he  was  party  to  a  suit,  in  which  the  question  of 
his  right  to  sue  was  decided  in  his  favor,  and  a  lawyer  wrote 
—  "  We  may  be  sure  "  that  the  attempt  to  forfeit  his  estate 
"  will  end  in  smoke." 


BERTON.  —  BETTYS.  227 

BERTON,  PETER.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  He  went 
to  New  Brunswick  in  1788,  and  was  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas.  His  youngest  son,  James  D.,  a  native  of 
Long  Island,  died  at  Fredericton  in  1848,  aged  seventy. 

BETHUNE,  JOHN.  Of  North  Carolina.  Chaplain  in  the 
Loyal  Militia.  Taken  prisoner  in  the  battle  at  Cross  Creek, 
1770,  confined  in  Halifax  jail,  but  ordered,  finally,  to  Phil 
adelphia.  After  his  release,  his  continued  loyalty  reduced 
him  to  great  distress.  He  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the 
84th  Regiment,  and  restored  to  comfort.  At  the  peace  he 
settled  in  Upper  Canada,  and  died  at  Williamstown  in  that 
Colony  in  1815,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year. 

BETIIUXE,  GEORGE.  Of  Boston.  He  graduated  at  Har 
vard  University  in  1740.  In  1774  he  was  an  Addresser  of 
Hutchinson  in  May,  and  one  of  the  Protesters  against  the 
proceedings  of  the  town  meeting  in  June  of  that  year.  The 
next  year  he  had  retired  to  Jamaica,  New  York,  where  he 
was  suspected  of  carrying  on  a  correspondence  with  the  Brit 
ish  forces,  and  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  Committee 
with  his  papers.  He  died  in  1785,  at  Cambridge,  aged  sixty- 
four.  Marv,  his  widow,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Faneuil,  died 
at  the  same  place  in  171>7,  aged  sixty-three. 

BETTS,  AZOR.  Of  New  York.  Physician.  In  January, 
1776,  he  was  arraigned  before  the  Committee  of  Safety,  for 
denouncing  Congresses  and  Committees,  both  Continental  and 
Provincial,  and  for  uttering  that  they  were  ';  a  set  of  damned 
rascals,  and  acted  only  to  feather  their  own  nests,  and  not  to 
serve  their  country,"  &c.  Ordered  to  close  confinement  in 
Ulster  County  jail.  In  April  the  Committee  of  Safety  voted 
his  discharge,  on  condition  of  acknowledging  penitence,  pay 
ing  expenses  of  confinement,  and  taking  an  oath  to  be  of 
good  behavior  ;  or,  dispensing  with  the  oath,  executing  a 
bond  with  sureties  in  <£200.  He  settled  in  Nova  Scotia,  and 
died  at  Digby  in  that  Province  in  1809.  His  widow,  Glori- 
annah,  died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  soon  after,  aged 
sixty-nine. 

BETTYS,    JOSEPH.     A   noted    Tory.     "  Joe   Bettys  "  was 


99* 


BETTYS.  — BIDDLE. 


known  as  a  shrewd,  intelligent,  daring,  and  bad  man.  It  is 
said,  that  pity  and  mercy  were  emotions  which  he  never  felt, 
and  that  to  all  the  gentler  impulses  he  was  thoroughly  insen 
sible.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  he  lived  at 
Ballston,  New  York,  and  was  a  Whig.  Entering  the  Whig- 
service  he  performed  feats  of  extraordinary  valor  in  Arnold's 
battle  with  Carleton  on  Lake  Champlain,  where  he  was  taken 
prisoner  and  carried  to  Canada.  While  a  captive,  he  was  un- 
fortunatelv  seduced  to  attach  himself  to  the  interests  of  the 
Crown,  and  to  accept  the  commission  of  ensign.  Admirably 
fitted  to  act  as  a  messenger  and  spy,  he  undertook  to  perform 
the  duties  of  one  or  both  as  occasion  should  require,  but  was 
captured  by  his  former  friends,  tried,  -and  condemned  to  the 
gallows.  Washington,  however,  spared  his  life  on  his  promise 
of  reformation,  on  the  entreaties  of  his  aged  parents  and  the 
solicitations  of  influential  Whigs.  But  Bettys  returned  di 
rectly  to  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  his  subsequent  career 
was  marked  by  almost  every  enormity  that  can  disgrace  a 
human  being.  His  very  name  struck  terror,  and  a  record  of 
his  enterprises  and  crimes  would  fill  a  book.  He  burned  the 
dwellings  of  persons  whom  he  hated,  or  took  them  off  by 
murder.  Fatigue,  distance,  or  danger,  were  no  obstacles  in 
the  accomplishment  of  his  designs.  He  knew  that  he  carried 
his  life  in  his  hand.  He  scorned  disguise  or  concealment. 
He  fell  upon  his  victims  at  noon  as  well  as  at  midnight. 
Many  plans  were  laid,  many  efforts  made  to  seize  him.  At 
last,  in  1782,  the  Whigs  were  successful,  and  detected  him 
with  a  despatch  to  the  commander  of  the  British  forces  in 
New  York.  He  was  taken  to  Albany  and  executed  as  a  spy 
and  traitor.  His  death  was  deemed  an  event  of  no  small 
consequence,  both  because  it  put  an  end  to  his  own  misdeeds, 
and  because  his  fate  was  calculated  to  awe  others  who  were 
engaged  in  the  same  perilous  employments. 

BIDDLE,  JOHN.  Of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania.  Was 
collector  of  excise,  and  a  deputy-quartermaster  of  the  Whig 
Army.  He  changed  sides,  and  in  1779  his  estate  was  confis 
cated.  His  office  of  collector  of  excise  was  worth,  in  1775, 


BIGG.  —  BILLOPP.  229 

but  c£15.  In  a  Loyalist  tract  published  at  London  in  1784, 
he  is  called  u  a  creature  of  John  Potts,  and  once  a  rebel  com 
missary." 

BIGG,  JOHN.  He  died  in  New  Brunswick  in  1830,  aged 
seventy-eight. 

BILLOPP,  CHRISTOPHER.  Of  Staten  Island,  New  York. 
Prior  to  the  Revolution,  "  the  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Farmar 
married  the  daughter  of  Captain  Christopher  Billopp,  an  officer 
in  the  British  Nary,  who  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  patent 
for  a  large  tract  of  land  on  Staten  Island,  containing  one  or 
two  thousand  acres.  Young  Farmar,  upon  his  wife's  inher 
iting  this  estate,  adopted  her  father's  name,  and  became  a  very 
noted  character."  He  commanded  a  corps  of  Loyalists,  or 
of  loyal  militia,  raised  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York  city,  and 
was  actively  employed  in  military  duty.  He  was  taken  pris 
oner  by  the  Whigs,  and  confined  in  the  jail  at  Burlington, 
New  Jersey.  Mr.  Boudinot,  the  commissary  of  prisoners, 
in  the  warrant  of  commitment,  directed  that  irons  should  be 
put  on  his  hands  and  feet,  that  he  should  be  chained  to  the 
floor  of  a  close  room,  and  that  he  should  be  fed  on  bread  and 
water,  in  retaliation  for  the  cruel  treatment  of  Leshier  and 
Randal,  two  Whig  officers  who  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  Royal  troops.  In  1782  Colonel  Billopp  was  Superintend 
ent  of  Police  of  Staten  Island.  His  property,  which  was  large, 
was  confiscated  under  the  Act  of  New  York.  At  the  old 
Billopp  House,  which  he  erected,  Lord  Howe,  as  a  commis 
sioner  of  the  mother-country,  met  Franklin,  John  Adams, 
and  Edward  Rutledge,  a  Committee  of  Congress,  in  the  hope 
of  adjusting  difficulties,  and  of  inducing  the  Colonies  to  return 
to  their  allegiance.  During  the  war,  Lord  Howe,  General 
Kniphausen,  Colonel  Simcoe,  and  other  officers  of  rank  in 
the  Royal  service,  were  frequent  guests  of  Colonel  Billopp, 
at  this  house.  In  1788  he  was  one  of  the  fifty-five  petitioners 
for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  [See  Alijah  Willard.~\  He  went  to 
New  Brunswick  soon  after,  and  for  many  years  bore  a  prom 
inent  part  in  the  administration  of  its  affairs.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  of  the  Council,  and 
VOL.  i.  20 


230  BIRDSILL.  —  BISSETT. 

on  the  death  of  Governor  Smythe,  in  1823,  he  claimed  the 
Presidency  of  the  Government,  and  issued  his  proclamation 
accordingly ;  but  the  Honorable  Ward  Chipman  was  a  com 
petitor  for  the  station,  and  was  sworn  into  office.  Colonel 
Billopp  died  at  St.  John  in  1827,  aged  ninety.  His  wife  Jane 
died  at  that  city  in  1802,  aged  forty-eight.  His  daughter 
Louisa  married  John  Wallace,  Esq.,  Surveyor  of  the  Cus 
toms.  His  daughter  Mary,  the  wife  of  the  Reverend  Arch 
deacon  Willis,  of  Nova  Scotia,  died  at  Halifax  in  1834,  at 
the  age  of  forty-three.  His  daughter  Jane,  wife  of  the  Hon 
orable  William  Black,  of  St.  John,  died  in  1836.  His  two 
sons  settled  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  were  merchants. 
They  were  partners,  and  in  business  at  the  time  of  the  yel 
low  fever  ;  —  the  one  married,  the  other  single.  The  unmar 
ried  brother  said  to  the  other,  "  It  is  unnecessary  that  both 
should  stay  here.  You  have  a  family,  and  your  life  is  of 
more  consequence  than  mine  ;  go  into  the  country  until  the 
sickness  subsides."  The  married  brother  retired  from  the 
city  accordingly,  while  the  other  remained  and  was  a  victim 
of  the  fever.  The  survivor,  whose  name  was  Thomas,  failed 
in  business  some  time  after  ;  joined  the  expedition  of  the  cel 
ebrated  Miranda,  and  was  appointed  a  captain  ;  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Spaniards  and  executed. 

BIRDSILL,  BENJAMIN.  Of  New  York.  Went  to  New 
Brunswick  in  1783,  and  settled  in  Queen's  County.  He 
died  at  Gagetown  in  that  county  in  1834,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-one.  Descendants  to  the  number  of  two  hundred 
and  two  survived  him.  Rachel,  his  widow,  died  at  Gage- 
town  in  1843,  aged  ninety-seven. 

BISSETT,  REV.  GEORGE.  Of  Newport,  Rhode  Island. 
Episcopal  minister.  Employed  as  assistant  and  school-mas 
ter  in  1767  ;  he  succeeded  Mr.  Browne,  as  Rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  four  years  later,  and  continued  in  office  until  the 
evacuation  of  the  town  by  the  Royal  Army,  in  1779.  Leav 
ing  his  wife  and  child  "  in  the  most  destitute  circumstances," 
he  followed  the  British  troops  to  New  York.  His  furniture 
was  seized  ;  but,  on  petition  of  Mrs.  Bissett,  the  General 


BLAIR.  —  BL  ANCH  ARD.  231 

Assembly  restored  it,  and  gave  her  permission  to  join  her 
husband.  Soon  after  his  departure,  the  church  was  entered, 
and  the  altar-piece —  ornamented  with  emblems  of  royalty  — 
was  torn  down  and  spoiled.  I  lose  sight  of  him  until  1786, 
when  he  was  in  England,  about  to  embark  for  America. 
He  resumed  his  professional  duties  in  St.  John,  Ne\v  Bruns 
wick,  and  died  there  in  1788.  His  wife  was  Penelope,  daugh 
ter  of  James  Honyman,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Vice- Admi 
ralty,  Rhode  Island. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Peters  said  of  Mr.  Bissett,  —  "  He  is  a  very 
sensible  man,  a  good  scholar  and  compiler  of  sermons,  although 
too  bashful  to  appear  in  company,  or  in  the  pulpit." 

BLAIR,  JAMES.  Died  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he 
was  Barrack-master,  in  1883,  aged  seventy-five. 

BLAIR,  JOHN.  Was  tried  as  a  spy  in  1778,  and  executed 
at  Hartford,  Connecticut.  A  large  amount  of  counterfeit 
money  was  found  in  his  possession. 

BLAIR,    CAPTAIN    .     Of  Virginia.      Joined    Lord 

Dunmore.     Taken    prisoner   and   perished,   as   supposed,   on 
the  passage  to  France. 

BLAKE,  WILLIAM.  Of  South  Carolina.  In  1782  his 
estate  was  amerced  twelve  per  cent.  In  an  English  work,  I 
find  that  there  "  died  in  Great  Cumberland  Place,  in  1803, 
in  his  sixty-fifth  year,  William  Blake,  Esq.,  of  South  Car 
olina."  His  remains  were  interred  at  Hanway  with  great 
funeral  pomp  :  twelve  outriders,  four  mourning-coaches,  and 
nearly  fifty  other  coaches,  forming  the  procession.  He  left 
property  valued  at  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

BLAKSLEE,  ABRAHAM.  Of  Connecticut.  Commanded  a 
company  in  the  second  regiment  of  the  militia,  and  the  House 
of  Assembly  appointed  a  Committee,  in  1775,  to  inquire 
into  charges  against  him  of  disaffection  and  contemptuous 
speaking. 

BLAKSLEE,  ASA.  Removed  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1783,  and  died  in  that  city  in  1843,  aged  eighty-seven. 

BLANCH ARD,  JOTHAM.  Of  Dunstable,  New  Hampshire. 
Served  in  a  Loyalist  corps.  At  the  peace  he  settled  in  Nova 


232  BLANVELT.  -  BLISS. 

Scotia  :  received  a  grant  of  lands  ;  carried  on  an  extensive 
business  in  lumber  ;  was  active  in  exploring  the  country  and 
in  obtaining  grants  for  fellow-exiles,  and  was  a  colonel  in  the 
militia.  He  died  about  the  year  1800. 

BLANVELT,  TUNIS.  Of  New  Jersey.  In  the  war  an  active 
"  bush-ranger."  Lost  considerable  property  in  consequence 
of  his  loyalty.  At  the  peace,  went  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia, 
with  a  family  of  six  and  three  servants.  Settled  finally  in 
Tusket,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  kept  a  boarding-house.  Died 
in  1830,  leaving  several  sons,  of  whom  two  are  now  (18(31) 
shipmasters.  His  second  wife  was  Hannah,  daughter  of 
Gabriel  Van  Nordan. 

BLEAU,  WALDRON.  Of  New  York.  In  1776  an  Ad 
dresser  of  Lord  and  Sir  William  Howe  ;  in  1782  a  Captain 
in  the  third  battalion  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  Went  to 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1783,  and  died  five  days  after 
landing  there.  His  house  and  land  in  the  city  of  New  York 
confiscated,  but  restored  to  his  widow  and  daughter. 

BLEAU,  URIAH.  Was  an  Ensign  in  the  third  battalion  of 
New  Jersey  Volunteers  in  1782.  Taken  prisoner  in  the 
battle  of  Eutaw  Springs. 

BLISS,  DANIEL.  Of  Concord,  Massachusetts.  Was  a  son 
of  Rev.  Samuel  Bliss,  of  that  town.  He  was  born  in  1740, 
graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1760,  and  died  at  Lin 
coln,  near  Fredericton,  in  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick, 
in  1806,  aged  sixty-six  years.  He  was  one  of  the  barristers 
and  attorneys  who  were  Addressers  of  Hutchinson  in  1774  ; 
and  was  proscribed  under  the  Act  of  1778  ;  and  joining  the 
British  Army,  was  appointed  Commissary.  After  the  Revo 
lution,  he  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  became  a  member 
of  the  Council,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  His  widow  died  in  1807,  at  the  age  of  sixty. 

BLISS,  JOHN  MURRAY.  Son  of  Daniel  Bliss.  He  was 
a  native  of  Massachusetts,  whence  he  removed  at  the  begin 
ning  of  hostilities.  He  did  not  settle  in  New  Brunswick  until 
1786.  Having  practised  law  for  several  years,  and  filled 
several  offices  connected  with  his  profession,  and  ha  vino- 


BLISS.  — BLOWERS. 

represented  the  County  of  York  in  the  House  of  Assembly, 
he  was,  in  1816,  elevated  to  the  bench  and  to  a  seat  in  his 
Majesty's  Council.  In  1824,  on  the  decease  of  the  Honorable 
Ward  Chipman,  who  was  President  and  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  Colony,  Judge  Bliss  succeeded  to  the  administration 
of  the  o;overnment,  and  continued  in  office  until  the  arrival  of 

O 

Sir  Howard  Douglas,  —  a  period  of  nearly  a  year.  At  his 
death,  he  was  senior  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He 
commanded  universal  confidence  and  esteem.  His  manners 
were  dignified,  and  his  conduct  open,  frank,  and  independent. 
Pie  died  at  St.  John,  August,  1834,  aged  sixty-three  years. 
His  daughter  Jane  died  at  Halifax  in  1826,  and  his  daughter 
Sophia  Isabella  died  at  St.  John  the  same  year. 

BLISS,  JONATHAN.  Of  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  Gradu 
ated  at  Harvard  University  in  1763,  and  died  at  Fredericton, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1822,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  His 
wife  and  the  wife  of  Fisher  Ames  were  sisters.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  in  1768,  and 
one  of  the  seventeen  Rescinders  ;  and  was  proscribed  under 
the  Act  of  1778.  In  New  Brunswick,  he  was  a  personage  of 
distinguished  consideration,  and  attained,  finally,  to  the  rank 
of  Chief  Justice,  and  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Council. 

BLISS,  SAMUEL.  Of  Massachusetts.  Was  a  brother  of 
the  Honorable  Daniel  Bliss.  He  died  at  St.  George,  New 
Brunswick,  in  1803. 

BLOOMER,  JOSHUA.  Episcopal  clergyman  of  Jamaica, 
New  York.  He  graduated  at  King's  College,  New  York,  in 
1761,  and  went  to  England  for  ordination  in  1765.  In  1769 
he  settled  at  Jamaica,  where  he  continued  until  his  death,  in 
1790.  Before  taking  orders,  he  was  an  officer  in  the  Pro 
vincial  service,  and  a  merchant  in  New  York.  While  at 
Jamaica,  he  officiated,  occasionally,  at  Newtown  and  Flush 
ing,  and  Domine  Rubell,  an  itinerant  Dutch  minister,  whose 
loyalty  induced  him  to  pray  heartily  for  the  royal  family, 
occupied  his  pulpit. 

BLOWERS,  SAMPSON  SALTER.  Of  Boston.  Proscribed  and 
banished.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1763. 
20* 


234  BLOWERS. 

The  class  of  that  year  is  celebrated  for  the  numbers  of  Loy 
alists  and  Judges  of  Courts.  Mr.  Blowers  entered  upon  the 
study  of  law  with  Hutchinson,  then  Judge  of  Probate  and 
Lieutenant-Goyernor.  In  1770  he  was  associated  with  Messrs. 
Adams  and  Quincy  in  behalf  of  the  British  soldiers  who 
were  tried  for  their  agency  in  the  Boston  Massacre,  so 
termed,  in  that  year.  In  1774  he  went  to  England,  and 
returning,  in  1778,  found  his  name  in  the  Proscription  Act. 
He  was  imprisoned,  but  being  soon  released,  went  to  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  in  that  Colony  was  long  a  distinguished 
character.  I  find  the  following  in  a  Halifax  newspaper  of 
January  26,  1784  :  — 

"  Extract  from  General  Orders,  Head-quarters. 

"  That  the  outstanding  Accounts  against  Government,  for 
contingent  Expenses  incurred  within  this  District,  may  be 
properly  considered  and  liquidated  ;  all  Applications  for  Mo 
nies  due  on  such  Accounts  are  to  be  presented  before  the  1st 
May  next ;  after  which  no  Memorial  for  Payment  will  be 
received. 

"  Published  by  Order  of  Major- General  Campbell. 

"  S.  S.  BLOWERS,  Secretary." 

In  1785  he  was  appointed  Attorney-General,  and  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  in  1797  was  created  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  having  had  for  some  years 
previous  to  his  judicial  elevation  a  seat  in  his  Majesty's 
Council.  He  retired  from  public  life  in  1833.  When  ex- 
President  Adams  was  in  Nova  Scotia,  in  1840,  he  paid  Judge 
Blowers  a  visit.  The  Judge  himself,  it  is  believed,  never 
set  foot  on  the  land  of  his  nativity,  after  he  was  driven  from 
it.  Sarah,  his  widow7,  died  at  Halifax,  July,  1845,  in  the 
eighty-eighth  year  of  her  age.  She,  I  think,  was  a  daughter 
of  Benjamin  Kent,  of  Massachusetts,  who,  at  first  a  Whig, 
became  a  Loyalist  and  a  refugee.  Judge  Blowrers  died  in 
1842.  He  "  never  wore  an  overcoat  in  his  life,"  says  the 
Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  in  a  speech  which  is  published. 


BOARDMAN.  -  BOND.  235 

BOAKDMAX.  REV.  RICHARD.  Minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  lie  was  born  in  England  in  1788,  and 
in  1763  was  received  by  Wesley  as  an  itinerant  preacher. 
In  1701),  lie  arrived  at  Philadelphia  and  began  his  labors  as 
a  missionary,  confining  his  services  principally  to  that  city,  to 
New  York,  and  the  adjacent  country.  In  the  spring  of  1772, 
however,  lie  made  a  visit  to  the  North,  and  preached  at  va 
rious  places  on  his  way.  At  Boston  he  formed  a  society. 
Thus,  as  it  appears,  he  introduced  "  Methodism  in  New  Eng 
land  one  year  before  the  first  Conference  was  held  in  Amer 
ica,  and  eleven  years  before  Jesse  Lee,  who  has  been  styled 
'  the  Apostle  of  Methodism  in  New  England,'  entered  the 
travelling  connection."  At  the  approach  of  the  Revolution, 
Mr.  Boardman,  unwilling  to  renounce  his  allegiance  to  the 
Crown,  returned  to  his  native  land.  He  died  at  Cork,  Ire 
land,  in  1783. 

BOGGS,  JAMES.  Of  Pennsylvania.  He  entered  the  service 
of  the  Crown,  and  was  attached  to  the  medical  staff  of  the 
Royal  Army.  In  1788  he  went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  for  many 
years  was  surgeon  of  the  forces  at  Halifax.  He  died  in  that 
city  in  1832,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one.  His  daughter  Eliza 
beth,  widow  of  John  Stuart,  died  at  Halifax  in  1852,  in  her 
eighty-fifth  year. 

BOND,  PHIXEAS.  Of  Philadelphia.  Physician.  He  re 
ceived  the  principal  part  of  his  medical  education  in  Europe, 
and  enjoyed  a  high  professional  reputation.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  a  profes 
sor  in  that  institution.  In  1777  he  signed  a  parole,  but  noti 
fied  the  Council  that  he  did  not  consider  himself  bound  by  it, 
because  his  liberty  was  restrained  contrary  to  the  promise 
made  to  him  when  the  paper  was  presented.  In  1780  he 
was  appointed  British  Consul  for  the  Middle  States,  and  the 
question  of  recognizing  him  as  such,  was  discussed  in  Con 
gress  the  folio  win  0-  year.  Mr.  Jav  reported  in  favor.  Mr. 

to  >r^    «.  _  I 

Madison  was  opposed  on  public  grounds.  Mr.  Varnum  ob 
jected  because  of  Mr.  Bond's  "  obnoxious  character."  Mr. 
Bond  was  also  Commissary  for  Commercial  Affairs,  which 


236  BOND.  -  BONNETT. 

Mr.  Jay  thought  was  designed  to  confer  some  of  the  powers 
of  a  Minister  to  the  United  States,  and  recommended  that  in 
that  capacity  he  should  not  be  recognized.  He  was  finally 
received  as  Consul,  and  continued  in  office  many  years.  A 
correspondent  remarks,  that  when  a  little  boy  he  heard  the 
"  Rogue's  March  "  played  before  Dr.  Bond's  door,  on  the  oc 
casion  of  the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake.  He  died  in  England 
in  1816. 

BOND,  THOMAS.  Physician.  Of  Philadelphia.  About 
1754,  he  published  medical  memoirs  on  professional  topics, 
which  were  reprinted  in  London.  He  always  rode  in  a 
small  phaeton. 

Chief  Justice  Shippen  wrote  to  his  father,  at  Lancaster, 
from  Philadelphia,  January  8,  1758  :  —  "  Our  Assembly 
have  taken  up  William  Moore  and  the  Provost,  and  put 
them  into  custody  for  writing  a  libel  against  the  former 
Assembly.  Thomas  Bond  and  Phineas  (Bond),  were  on 
the  point  of  being  committed  on  the  same  account.  The 
latter  was  actually  in  the  custody  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms, 
but  afterwards  discharged.  How  the  matter  will  end  is  yet 
uncertain."  Dr.  Bond  died  in  1784. 

BONNELL,  ISAAC.  Of  New  Jersey.  Sheriff  of  Middlesex 
County  under  Governor  William  Franklin,  of  whom  he  was 
an  intimate  friend  and  correspondent.  In  1776  he  was  ap 
prehended  by  order  of  Washington,  and  directed  by  the  Pro 
vincial  Congress  to  remain  at  Trenton  on  parole ;  but  leave 
was  given,  finally,  to  live  elsewhere.  Subsequently,  he  re 
tired  to  the  British  lines,  and  became  Barrack-master  on 
Staten  Island.  At  the  peace,  he  went  to  Digby,  Nova  Scotia, 
where,  for  fifty  guineas,  he  bought  a  log-hut,  with  windows 
of  greased  paper,  and  a  lot  of  land.  His  property  in  New 
Jersey  was  confiscated.  In  Nova  Scotia  he  was  a  merchant, 
and  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  died  in 
1806,  aged  sixty-nine.  His  only  son  bore  the  name  of  Wil 
liam  Franklin,  as  does  a  grandson,  who  is  now  (1861)  Post 
master  of  Gagetown,  Ne\v  Brunswick. 

BONNETT,  ISAAC.     He  was  born  in  New  Rochelle,  New 


BONSALL.  —BORLAND.  237 

York.  He  abandoned  his  property  at  the  close  of  tlie  war, 
and  removed  to  Annapolis  Royal,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  in  1888,  aged 
eighty-six,  leaving  a  widow  and  five 'children. 

BONSALL,  RICHARD.  He  was  a  native  of  Wales,  and  a 
brother  of  Sir  Thomas  Bonsall.  He  commenced  the  study 
of  medicine,  but  abandoned  it.  In  consequence  of  a  dis 
agreement  with  Sir  Thomas,  lie  emigrated  to  New  York  some 
years  prior  to  the  Revolution,  where  he  remained  until  the 
close  of  hostilities.  In  1783  he  went  to  St.  John,  and  was 
a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  died  at  that  city  in  1814,  aged 
seventy-two.  His  wife  was  a  lady  of  the  name  of  Smith,  of 
Long  Island,  New  York.  Six  children  survived  him  ;  only 
one  is  now  (1846)  living. 

BOIILAND,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  Francis  and  Jane 
Borland.  He  owned  and  occupied  the  mansion  in  Cambridge 
built  by  Rev.  Dr.  Apthorp,  first  Rector  of  Christ  Church  in 
that  town.  In  1774  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson. 
He  died  in  1775,  aged  forty-six,  in  consequence  of  "  injuries 
received  by  a  misstep  in  descending  stairs,  after  his  removal 
to  Boston,"  and  his  remains  were  deposited  in  the  family  tomb, 
in  Granary  burying-ground.  His  widow,  Anna  Vassal!,  mar 
ried  William  Knight  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  and  died 
a  widow  at  Boston,  in  1823.  Mr.  Borland  was  the  father  of 
twelve  children,  namely  :  Phebe,  who  married  George  Spooner, 
of  Boston  ;  John  Lindall,  of  whom  presently  ;  Francis,  who 
graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1774,  became  a  physician, 
and  died  in  1826  ;  Jane,  who  was  the  wife  of  Jonathan  Simp 
son  ;  Leonard  Vassal!,  who  died  on  shipboard  on  a  voyage 
from  Batavia,  in  1801  ;  James,  who  entered  the  University 
just  mentioned,  but  did  not  graduate,  and  who  deceased  soon 
after  the  year  1783  ;  Samuel,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  Uni 
versity  in  1786,  and  died  at  Hudson,  New  York  ;  and  five 
others,  who  did  not  survive  childhood. 

BORLAND,  JOHN  LINDALL.  Of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 
Son  of  John  Borland.  Graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
1772,  entered  the  British  Army  and  became  lieutenant-colonel. 
He  died  in  Eno-land,  November,  1825. 


238  BOSTWICK.  —  BOT8FORD. 

BOSTWICK,  REV.  GIDEON.  Of  Massachusetts.  Episcopal 
minister.  He  was  born  at  New  Milford  in  1742,  and  was 
bred  a  Congregationalist.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1762.  Went  to  England  for  ordination ;  and  in  1770  be 
came  Rector  of  St.  James1  Church,  Great  Barrington.  He 
had  charge  also  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Lanesborough  ;  and 
late  in  life  officiated  a  part  of  the  time  at  Hudson,  New  York. 
He  died  in  his  native  town  in  1793,  while  on  a  visit,  aged 
fifty.  His  remains,  after  a  temporary  burial,  were  removed 
to  Great  Barrington,  "  which  had  so  long  been  the  place  of  his 
residence  and  the  scene  of  his  labors."  His  wife,  who  died  in 
1787,  was  Gessie,  daughter  of  John  Burghardt.  One  of  his 
daughters  married  Dr.  Benajah  Tucker,  surgeon  in  the  United 
States  Navy.  Two  sons,  John  and  Henry,  settled  in  Canada, 
and,  in  the  war  of  1812,  were  colonels  in  the  militia. 

BOTSFORD,  AMOS.  Of  Newtown,  Connecticut.  He  grad 
uated  at  Yale  College  in  1763.  In  1775,  in  a  document  re 
markable  for  its  guarded  form  of  expression,  though  drawn  up 
in  opposition  to  a  paper  which  disapproved  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Continental  Congress,  he  made  known  his  determina 
tion  to  be  compliant  with  the  measures  of  that  body.  But, 
subsequently,  adhering  to  the  side  of  the  Crown,  he  removed 
to  New  Brunswick  after  the  conclusion  of  hostilities,  and  de 
voted  himself  to  the  profession  of  the  law.  In  1784  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  was  uniform 
ly  returned  from  the  County  of  Westmoreland  at  every  elec 
tion  during  his  life.  He  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assem- 

C?  I 

bly  as  early  as  1792.  He  died  at  St.  John  in  1812,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-nine  ;  and  was  the  senior  barrister  at  law  in  the  Col 
ony.  His  wife  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  Joshua  Chandler.  His 
two  daughters  married  brothers  :  Sarah,  Stephen  Milledge, 
Sheriff  of  Westmoreland  County ;  and  Ann,  the  Rev.  John 
Milledge  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  His  son,  the  Honorable 
William  Botsford,  wras  appointed  Judge  of  Vice-Admiralty  of 
New  Brunswick  in  1803,  and  for  a  long  period  subsequently 
was  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  I  record  the  following  despatch  to  show  the  liberal 


BOTSFOHD.  239 

course   of  the  British  Government  to  ao-ed  functionaries  on 

O 

retiring  from  office  :  — 

"  DOWNING  STKEET,  19th  January,  1847. 

"  SIR,  —  I  have  read  with  very  lively  concern  the  letter  to 
myself  from  Mr.  Botsford,  of  the  llth  December,  1846,  ac 
companying  your  despatch  of  the  23d  of  that  month,  (No. 
117.)  Lord  Stanley  obviously  accepted  Mr.  Botsford's  resig 
nation  under  the  conviction  that  the  claims  of  that  {gentleman 

o 

to  a  retired  allowance,  at  his  advanced  period  of  life,  and  after 
so  long  a  course  of  honorable  public  service  in  so  high  and 
eminent  a  station,  would  be  favorably  received  by  the  Legisla 
ture  of  New  Brunswick  ;  nor  do  I  doubt  that  if  his  Lordship 
had  regarded  their  concurrence  in  such  a  grant  as  question 
able,  he  would  have  directed  that  the  resignation  should  not 
be  actually  made  until  that  question  had  been  set  at  rest.  To 
have  taken  such  a  precaution  might  indeed  have  appeared  to 
imply  some  unbecoming  distrust  of  the  justice  and  liberality  of 
the  Assembly ;  and  for  that  reason,  as  I  presume,  Lord  Stan 
ley  omitted  to  take  it.  The  omission  is  now  irreparable,  ex 
cept  by  a  reconsideration  on  the  part  of  the  Local  Legislature, 
of  their  refusal  of  the  proposed  grant.  Her  Majesty  has,  by 
the  Civil  List  arrangement,  been  entirely  divested  of  all  re 
sources  for  satisfying  any  such  demands  on  the  justice  or 
liberality  of  the  Crown.  To  the  Assembly,  therefore,  the 
case  must  be  again  referred,  with  as  strong  a  recommenda 
tion  of  the  claim  to  their  favorable  notice,  as  it  may  be  possi 
ble  to  address  to  them.  I  am  convinced  that  if  the  case  had 
been  understood  by  that  House,  as  it  is  now  represented  by 
Mr.  Botsford  and  by  yourself,  they  would  not  have  declined 
to  accede  to  his  request.  A  repetition  of  their  refusal,  would, 
in  any  future  case,  render  impossible  the  voluntary  resignation 
of  any  Judge,  however  much  age  or  infirmity  might  have 
disqualified  him  for  his  judicial  duties.  The  saving  of  a 
charge  of  £300  per  annum  to  the  Local  Treasury,  or  even 
the  habitual  saving  of  any  such  charges,  would  be  a  very  in 
adequate  compensation  for  the  injury  which  the  public  at 
laro;e  would  sustain  from  the  continuance  on  the  Bench  of 


240  BOUCHER. 

men  who  had  survived  the  power  of  discharging  aright  that 
most  important  and  arduous  trust. 

"  I  have,  &c., 

"  (Signed,)  GREY. 

"  Lieut-Governor  SIR  WILLIAM  COLEBROOKE." 

BOUCHER,  JONATHAN.  Episcopal  clergyman  of  Virginia. 
He  was  Rector,  first  of  Hanover,  and  then  of  St.  Mary.  Gov 
ernor  Eden  gave  him  also  the  rectory  of  St.  Anne,  Annapolis, 
and  of  Queen  Anne.  His  home  was  in  Maryland,  several 
years,  and  he  owned  an  estate  there  which  was  confiscated, 
He  was  an  unshaken  and  uncompromising  Loyalist.  In 
1775,  resolving  to  quit  the  country,  he  preached  a  farewell 
sermon,  in  which  he  declared  that  as  long  as  he  lived,  he 
would  say  with  Zadok,  the  priest,  and  Nathan,  the  prophet, 
"  God  save  the  king.''  Arriving  in  England,  lie  was  ap 
pointed  Vicar  of  Epsom,  and  there  he  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  He  died  in  1804,  aged  sixty-seven.  He  was  re 
garded  as  one  of  the  best  preachers  of  his  time.  While  in 
Virginia,  the  son  of  Mrs.  Washington,  by  her  first  marriage, 
was  his  pupil.  During  the  last  fourteen  years  of  his  life, 
Boucher  was  employed  in  making  a  glossary  of  provincial 
and  archaeological  words,  and  in  1831  his  manuscripts  were 
purchased  of  his  family  by  the  proprietors  of  "  Webster's  Dic 
tionary."  In  1799  were  published  fifteen  discourses  preached 
in  America,  between  the  years  1763  and  1775,  on  the  causes 
and  consequences  of  the  American  Revolution,  which  were 
dedicated  to  his  old  friend,  Washington. 

His  wife,  Eleanor,  of  the  name  and  family  of  Addison,  died 
at  Paddington,  in  1784.  She  bore  without  a  murmur,  the 
loss  of  country,  friends,  fortune,  and  preferment,  consequent 
upon  her  husband's  loyalty ;  and  "  was  a  woman  of  great 
merit,  possessing  the  esteem  and  friendship  of  all  who  knew 
her."  His  third  daughter,  Jane,  died  in  London,  in  1810, 
of  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  after  a  few  days'  illness,  in  the 
sixteenth  year  of  her  age.  In  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine  " 
it  is  said  :  "  An  elegant  form,  and  a  countenance  of  engaging 


BOURA.  —  BOUTINEAU.  241 

sweetness,  were  among  the  least  attractions  of  tin's  amiable 
girl,  whose  mild  and  placid  temper,  whose  affectionate  dis 
position,  whose  solid  understanding  beyond  her  years,  whose 
compassionate  feeling  for  the  distresses  of  others,  had  justly 
endeared  her  to  her  family,  and  rendered  her  a  child  of  un 
common  promise." 

BOURA,  PETER.  An  early  settler  at  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick.  In  1795  he  was  a  member  of  the  Loyal  Artillery  of 
that  city.  He  died  in  1804,  while  on  a  homeward  passage 
from  Jamaica,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine.  He  was  a  ship 
master. 

BOURK,  WILLIAM.  Of  North  Carolina.  In  March,  1776, 
he  was  charged  with  being  inimical  to  the  liberties  of  Amer 
ica  ;  and  on  a  hearing  before  the  Council,  John  Strange,  a 
witness  against  him,  swrore,  in  the  course  of  his  testimony, 
that  Botirk  said  "  General  Gage  deserved  to  be  d d,  be 
cause  he  had  not  let  the  guards  out  at  Bunker  Hill ;  and  it 
would  have  settled  the  dispute  at  that  time."  This,  and  other 
particulars,  Bourk  acknowledged  ;  when  it  wras  resolved  to 
commit  him  to  close  jail  until  further  orders. 

BOURN,  EDWARD,  ELISHA,  LEMUEL,  and  WILLIAM.  Of 
Sandwich,  Massachusetts.  Were  proscribed  and  banished. 
Lemuel  joined  the  Royal  forces  at  Rhode  Island.  Citizen 
ship  restored  to  Edward  and  Elisha,  by  Act  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  1788. 

BOURNE,  SHEARJASHUB.  Of  Scituate,  Massachusetts.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1743.  In  1774  he  was 
among  the  barristers  and  attornies-at-law  who  were  Address 
ers  of  Governor  Hutchinson  on  his  departure.  He  died  at 
Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  in  1781. 

BOUTINEAU,  JAMES.  Of  Boston.  Attorney-at-law.  Was 
appointed  Mandamus  Counsellor  in  1774,  and  was  one  of  the 
ten  who  took  the  oath  of  office.  He  was  included  in  the 
Conspiracy  Act  of  1779,  and  his  estate  was  confiscated  under 
its  provisions.  In  1772  his  son-in-law,  John  Robinson,  a 
commissioner  of  the  customs,  was  found  guilty  of  a  most 
violent  assault  on  James  Otis,  for  which  the  jury  assessed 

VOL.    I.  21 


242  BOUTINEAU. 

two  thousand  pounds  sterling  damages.  Boutineau  appeared 
as  attorney  for  Robinson,  and  in  his  name  signed  a  submis 
sion,  asking  the  pardon  of  Otis,  who,  thereupon,  executed  a 
free  release  for  the  two  thousand  pounds.  Otis  never  recov 
ered  from  the  effect  of  this  assault,  and,  shattered  in  health 
and  reason,  soon  retired  from  public  life. 

Mr.  Boutineau  went  to  England,  and  died  there.  I  have 
been  allowed  to  copy  three  letters,  from  which  I  make  such 
extracts  as  serve  to  show  the  course  of  affairs  among  the  Loy 
alists  in  exile.  The  first  is  dated  at  Bristol,  England,  April 
6,  1778,  and  is  addressed  to  Mrs.  Mary  Ann,  wife  of  Edward 
Jones,  merchant,  Boston,  and  sister  of  Mrs.  Boutineau.  Both 
ladies,  it  may  be  remarked,  were  sisters  of  Peter  Faneuil ;  and 
Mrs.  Jones  was  then  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia.  Mr.  Boutineau 
speaks  of  an  attack  of  the  gout  which  had  compelled  him  to 
keep  house  for  some  time,  and  then  discourses  upon  matters 
which  are  not  without  interest  at  the  present  time.  Thus,  he 
says,  that  "  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Faneuil,  who  lodge  in  the  same 
house  with  us,  make  it  agreeable  ;  "  and  that  "  there  are  one 
or  two  other  genteel  gentlemen  and  ladies,  so  that  during  the 
winter  we  drank  tea  with  each  other  four  days  in  the  week." 
Of  other  fellow-Loyalists,  he  writes,  that  "  Lodgings  have 
been  taken  for  Mr.  Sewell,  of  Cambridge,  and  family,  —  they 
are  expected  here  this  day.  Colonel  Murray's  family  are  gone 
to  Wales,  as  well  as  Judge  Brown  and  Apthorp's.  All  the  New 
England  people  here,  are  Barnes  and  family,  Captain  Fenton 
and  daughter,  besides  those  in  the  house."  In  a  postcript,  he 
adds  :  u  I  desire  you  to  inform  me  (if  you  can)  who  lives 
in  my  house  in  Boston." 

The  first  letter  of  Mrs.  Boutineau  is  addressed  to  her 
nephew,  Edward  Jones,  merchant,  Boston,  and  is  dated  at 
Bristol,  February  20,  1784.  It  relates  principally  to  affairs 
of  business.  "  I  had  determined,"  she  says,  "  to  send  a 
power-of-attorney  to  you  and  another  gentleman  to  settle 
with  [Mr.  Bethune]  and  likewise  to  dispose  of  all  my  prop 
erty  in  America  ;  but  upon  reflection  I  have  deferred  it,  un 
til  the  acts  of  your  Assembly's  that  are  inimical  to  persons 


BOUTINEAU.  — .BOWDEN.  243 

of  my  description  arc  repealed,  for  which  reason  I  have  asked 
the  favor  of  Judge  Lee  to  let  my  brother  Faneuil's  bond  re 
main  in  his  hands.  This,  I  say,  is  my  present  idea  ;  perhaps 
some  occurrence  may  take  place  which  may  alter  it  ;  in  the 
meantime,  I  beg  the  favor  of  you  to  send  me  a  blank  power- 
of-attorney  drawn  in  as  full  and  ample  a  manner  as  possible, 
to  sell  real  estates,  &c.  My  addition  must  be,  Susanna  Bou- 
tineau,  widow,  and  sole  executor  of  James  Boutineau,  Esq. 
If  you  have  no  objection,  I  should  be  glad  it  might  be  got 
from  Mr.  James  Hughes,  to  whom  you  will  please  to  present 
my  compliments,  and  thank  him  in  my  name  for  the  letter  I 
received  from  him.  I  should  be  glad  to  be  informed  at  the 
same  time,  if  it  is  necessary  to  send  an  authenticated  copy  of 
my  late  husband's  will  from  Doctors  Commons,  which  wrill 
be  expensive,  but  if  necessary,  it  must  be  done.  About  two 
years  since,  Mr.  Bethunc  made  me  (through  Mr.  Prince)  an 
offer  of  .£500  sterling  for  my  third  of  sister  Phillips's  estate, 
which  you  may  be  sure  I  refused.  Mr.  Prince  is  to  pay  me 
in  a  few  days,  by  Mr.  Bethune's  order,  £100  sterling,  I  sup 
pose  on  account  of  rents,"  &c.  &c. 

The  second  letter  of  Mrs.  Boutineau  is  also  addressed  to 
her  sister,  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Jones,  who,  at  its  date,  April  1, 
1785,  had  returned  to  Boston.  Like  the  first,  it  is  devoted 
to  matters  of  unsettled  business,  and  especially  to  her  share 
of  her  sister  Phillips's  estate.  It  would  seem  that  this  letter 
was  delivered  by  Mr.  James  Hughes,  to  whom,  with  Mr.  Na 
thaniel  Bethune,  she  had  sent  a  power-of-attorney  to  effect 
a  final  adjustment  of  her  interest  in  the  estate  just  mentioned. 
She  concludes  with  the  remark,  that  her  health  is  "  very  in 
different,"  that  "  Mr.  Fanueil  had  a  letter  lately  from  Mr. 
Jones,  who  is  going  soon  to  be  very  well  married,"  &c.  &c. 

BOWDEX,  THOMAS.  Of  New  York.  Entered  the  military 
service,  and  in  1782  was  Major  in  De  Lancey's  Second  Bat 
talion.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  England. 

BOWDEX,  REV.  JOHN,  I).  I).  Of  New  York.  Was  born 
in  Ireland  in  1751.  Graduated  at  King's  (Columbia)  Col- 
leo-e  in  1772.  Was  ordained  in  1774,  and  the  same  year  was 


244  BOWES.  —  BOWIE. 

settled  as  Assistant  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York. 
Soon  after  the  beginning  of  hostilities  he  retired  to  Norwalk, 
Connecticut,  but  returned  to  New  York  when  the  British 
obtained  possession  of  the  city.  Informed  that  harm  was 
intended  him,  he  fled  to  Long  Island  at  night,  where  he 
occasionally  assisted  the  Rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of 
Jamaica.  In  1784  he  accepted  the  Rectorship  of  the  Church 
at  Norwalk.  In  1T89  he  took  charge  of  a  small  parish  in  the 
West  Indies.  In  1801  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy,  Belles-lettres  and  Logic  in  Columbia  College. 
He  died  at  Ballston  Spa  in  1817,  aged  sixty-five.  His  wife 
—  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Jervis  —  bore  him  three 
sons,  one  of  whom,  James  J.,  graduated  at  Columbia  College 
in  1813,  Avas  Rector  of  St.  Mary's  Parish,  St.  Mary's  County, 
Maryland,  and  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-six. 

BOWES,  WILLIAM.  Merchant  of  Boston.  An  Addresser 
of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775.  He  went  to 
Halifax  in  1776,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  four  persons. 
In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  died  in  Eng 
land  in  1805. 

BOWERS,  JERATHMIEL.  Of  Swansey,  Massachusetts.  In 
1777,  by  a  resolve  of  the  General  Court,  he  was  disqualified 
from  holding  any  post  of  honor  or  profit  in  Massachusetts 
In  1783  he  was  elected  a  member  of  that  body,  and  petitions 
for  his  exclusion  therefrom,  setting  out  that  "  he  had  not 
shown  himself  friendly  in  the  late  struggle  with  Great  Brit 
ain,"  were  sent  by  the  Selectmen  of  Rehobolh,  and  sundry 
inhabitants  of  his  own  town.  The  House  held  that  the  re 
solve  above  mentioned,  was  still  in  force,  and  that  therefore 
Mr.  Bowers  was  not  entitled  to  membership.  He  vacated 
his  seat  accordingly. 

BOWIE,  REV.  JOHN,  D.  D.  Of  Maryland.  Episcopal 
minister.  He  was  a  native  of  Prince  George's  County, 
Maryland,  and  was  admitted  to  Holy  Orders  in  England. 
About  the  year  1771  he  became  a  Curate  in  Montgomery 
County.  In  1774  he  was  Rector  of  a  parish  in  Worcester 
County.  He  was  a  violent  Loyalist,  and,  in  consequence, 


BOWLES.  245 

was  imprisoned  at  Annapolis  two  years.  On  being  released 
lie  settled  in  Talbot  County,  where  he  taught  school,  and  was 
Rector  of  the  parish  in  which  he  lived.  In  1785  he  was  in 
charge  of  another  parish  ;  and  in  1790  of  still  another.  lie 
died  in  1801,  leaving  three  sons  and  a  daughter.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  talents,  "  a  complete  classical  scholar,  and  of 
unblemished  morals.'' 

BOWLES,  WILLIAM  AGUSTUS.  Of  Maryland.  In  1791  he 
was  among  the  Creeks,  with  whom  he  possessed  great  influ 
ence,  and  styled  himself  General  William  Augustus  Bowles. 
On  the  18th  of  May,  1792,  James  Seagrove,  Esquire,  our 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  in  "  a  talk  " '  with  the  kings, 
chiefs,  headmen  and  warriors  of  the  Creek  nation,  said  of 
him  :  "  This  Bowles  is  an  American  of  low.  mean  extraction, 
born  in  Maryland  ;  he  was  obliged,  on  account  of  his  villany, 
to  fly  from  home  and  follow  the  British  Army,  where  he  was 
despised  and  treated  as  a  bad  man  and  a  coward.  Finding 
he  could  not  live  there,  he  returned  to  America  ;  but  being 
too  la/y  to  work  at  his  trade  for  a  living,  he  renewed  his  bad 
acts,  for  which  he  was  compelled  to  fly  from  his  native  coun 
try,  or  be  hanged."  Bowles  had  assumed  to  act  among  the 
Indians  under  authority  of  the  British  Government ;  but  on 
inquiry  by  the  President,  the  ministry  promptly  and  explicitly 
denied  that  they  had  afforded  him  countenance,  assistance,  or 
protection.  At  the  time  of  Seagrove's  "  talk,"  it  would  ap 
pear  that  Bowles  had  absented  himself  from  the  Creek  coun 
try  ;  but  in  1801  he  was  again  in  mischief  there,  or  in  its 
vicinity,  and  means  were  taken  by  our  Government  to  coun 
teract  his  plans  and  plots.  A  gentleman  connected  with 
Indian  Affairs,  saw  a  portrait  of  this  creature  suspended  in 
the  house  of  a  chief,  under  which  was  written,  "  General 
Bowles,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Creek  and  Cherokee  na 
tions."  He  saw  also  a  number  of  engraved  dinner-cards, 
which  Bowles  had  received  while  in  England,  styling  him 
"  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Creek  nation." 

He  was    undoubtedly  a   bold   and   wicked    man.      At  one 
time  the  Spanish  Government  offered  a  reward  of  six  thou- 
21* 


216  BOWLES.  —  BOYD. 

sand  dollars  for  his  apprehension,  on  account  of  his  pernicious 
influence  over  the  Florida  Indians.  He  was  accordingly 
seized,  and  sent  prisoner  to  Madrid,  and  thence  to  Manilla. 
Obtaining  leave  to  go  to  Europe,  he  repaired  to  the  Creek 
country,  where  he  commenced  his  mischievous  course  anew. 
In  1S01  he  fell  into  Spanish  hands  a  second  time,  and  was 
sent  to  the  Moro  Castle,  Havana.  Deprived  of  light  and  air, 
fed  on  bread  and  water,  and  losing,  finally,  all  hope  of  release, 
he  refused  sustenance,  and  died  in  December,  1805,  of  star 
vation.  His  wife  was  a  Creek  woman. 

BOYD, .     Of  Carolina.     Colonel,  and  in  command  of 

a  corps  of  Tories,  who  were  robbers  rather  than  soldiers. 
What  they  could  not  consume  or  carry  off,  they  burned. 
Boyd  himself  was  bold,  enterprising,  and  famed  for  his  dis 
honesty.  He  had  a  conference  with  Sir  Henry  Clinton  at 
New  York,  and  planned  an  insurrection  in  the  back  part  of 
South  Carolina,  to  be  executed  as  soon  as  the  Royal  Army 
should  obtain  possession  of  Savannah. 

In  1779,  at  the  head  of  eight  hundred  men.  he  passed 
through  the  district  of  Ninety-Six  on  his  way  to  Georgia, 
and  destroyed  life  and  property  by  sword  and  fire,  along  his 
whole  route.  In  a  skirmish  with  a  party  of  Whigs,  under 
Anderson,  of  Pickens's  corps,  he  acknowledged  a  loss  of  one 
eighth  of  his  command  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing.  He 
endeavored  to  avoid  Pickens  himself,  but,  overtaken  by  that 
officer,  when  unapprehensive  of  danger,  was  surprised  and 
defeated.  He  received  three  wounds,  which  proved  mortal. 
After  the  battle  he  was  visited  by  Pickens,  who  recommended 
preparation  for  death,  and  tendered  services  suited  to  the  oc 
casion.  Boyd  expressed  thanks  ;  said  the  Whigs  owed  their 
success  to  his  fall ;  desired  that  two  men  might  remain  with 
him  to  give  him  water,  and  to  bury  his  body  after  he  died ; 
and  asked  that  his  wife  should  be  informed  of  his  fate  by 
letter,  and  that  some  articles  about  his  person  should  be  sent 
to  her.  Neighbor  had  fought  against  neighbor  ;  and  in  the 
exasperation  of  the  moment,  the  Whigs  doomed  seventy  of 
their  prisoners  to  death  ;  but  they  executed  only  five.  About 


BO  YD.  —  BOYLSTON.  247 

three  hundred    escaped,   and   formed    the   intended  junction 
with  the  British  troops  in  Georgia. 

BOYD,  GEORGE.  Of  Portsmouth,  Xevv  Hampshire.  A 
member  of  the  Council  under  the  Royal  Government  of  that 
Province.  On  approach  of  the  troubles  of  the  Revolution,  lie 
abandoned  the  country,  and  was  included  in  the  Proscrip 
tion  Act  of  New  Hampshire  of  1778.  While  abroad  he 
acquired  wealth.  In  1787,  he  adjusted  his  affairs,  and  em 
barked  for  his  native  land,  full  of  hope.  Riding  was  among 
his  enjoyments  ;  and  he  procured  a  handsome  coach  and  an 
English  coachman.  He  died  at  sea,  two  days  before  the 
ship  arrived  at  Portsmouth,  and  his  remains  were  interred 
from  his  elegant  mansion. 

£D 

His  wife  was  Jane,  daughter  of  Joseph  Brcwster.  She 
bore  him  five  sons  and  five  daughters.  Sulunt,  the  youngest 
of  the  latter,  born  in  1774,  was  thus  named,  as  is  said,  to 
indicate  his  opinion  of  the  duty  of  the  Colonies  in  the  exist 
ing  controversy  with  the  mother  country. 

BOYLE,  ROBERT.  Went  to  New  Brunswick  in  1783.  and 
died  at  Portland,  in  that  Province,  in  1848. 

BOYLSTON,  WARD  NICHOLAS.  Of  Boston.  He  was  born 
in  that  town  in  1749.  His  father  was  Benjamin  Hallowell, 
one  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Customs.  I  have  before 
me  the  original  license,  bearing  the  signature  of  George  the 
Third,  by  which  he  was  authorized  to  change  his  name  ;  it 
recites  —  that  "  Nicholas  Boylston,  his  uncle  by  his  mother's 
side,  has  conceived  a  very  great  affection  for  him,  the  peti 
tioner,  and  has  promised  to  leave  him,  at  his  death,  certain 
estates,  which  are  very  considerable,"  &c.,  &c.  In  1773  Mr. 
Boylston  went  to  Newfoundland,  thence  to  Italy,  Turkey, 
Svria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  along  the  coast  of  Barbary  ;  and 
arrived  in  England  in  1775,  through  France  and  Flanders. 
He  dined  at  Governor  Hutchinson's,  London,  with  some 
fellow-Loyalists,  July  29, 1775,  and  entertained  the  company 
with  an  account  of  his  travels ;  and,  at  subsequent  periods, 
he  exhibited  the  curiosities  which  he  brought  from  the  Holy 
Land,  Egypt,  and  other  countries,  to  the  unhappy  exiles  from 


248  BOYLSTON. 

liis  native  State.  In  the  autumn  of  the  next  year,  he  was 
in  lodgings  at  Shepton  Mallet.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Loyalist  Association,  formed  in  London  in  1779.  He  returned 
to  Boston  in  the  year  1800.  In  1810  he  presented  Harvard 
University  with  a  valuable  collection  of  medical  and  ana 
tomical  works  and  engravings.  He  died  at  his  seat,  Iloxbury, 
in  1828,  aged  seventy-eight.  His  son,  John  Lane  Boylston, 
died  at  Princeton  in  18-47,  aged  fifty-eight. 

BOYLSTOX,  THOMAS.  Of  Boston.  John  Adams  said  of 
him  in  1760,  —  "Tom  is  a  firebrand.  Tom  is  a  perfect 
viper,  a  Jew,  a  devil,  but  is  orthodox  in  politics,  however." 
He  was  among  the  citizens  of  Boston  who  were  detained  by 
General  Gage,  in  consequence  of  the  imprisonment  of  Jones 
and  Hicks  in  the  jail  at  Concord  ;  and  was  released  by  ex 
change,  August,  1775.  He  fell  off.  In  1777  he  was  —  as 
is  said  —  the  hero  of  the  following  incident,  which  is  related 
by  Mrs.  Adams :  — 

44  It  was  rumored,"  she  wrote  her  husband,  "  that  an  em 
inent,  wealthy,  stingy  merchant,  (who  is  a  bachelor,)  had  a 
a  hogshead  of  coffee  in  his  store,  which  he  refused  to  sell  to 
the  Committee  under  six  shillings  per  pound.  A  number  of 
females,  some  say  a  hundred,  some  say  more,  assembled  with 
a  cart  and  trucks,  marched  down  to  the  warehouse,  and 
demanded  the  keys,  which  he  refused  to  deliver.  Upon 
which  one  of  them  seized  him  by  the  neck  and  tossed  him 
into  the  cart.  LTpoii  his  finding  no  quarter  he  delivered  the 
keys,  when  they  tipped  up  the  cart  and  discharged  him  ;  then 
opened  the  warehouse,  hoisted  out  the  coffee  themselves,  put 
it  into  the  truck,  and  drove  off.  ...  A  large  concourse  of 
men  stood  amazed,  silent  spectators  of  the  whole  transaction." 

He  went  to  England,  invested  his  fortune  in  commerce, 
and  was  utterly  ruined.  Said  Aspden,  a  fellow-Loyalist,  in 
1793,  "  I  called  to  see,  in  Newgate,  Mr.  Thomas  Boylston, 
of  Boston,  whom  they  want  to  bring  in  as  a  sleeping  partner 
in  the  house  of  Lane,  Son  &  Frazer,  lately  failed ;  or,  if  this 
won't  do,  to  milk  him  for  lending  them  money  at  usurious 
interest.  So  much  for  beiiur  a  stranger  and  friendless."  He 


BOYLSTON.— BRATEN.  249 

died  in  London  in  1798,  of  a  broken  heart.  The  simple 
record  is —  kt  Aged  77,  Thomas  Boylston,  late  a  very  eminent 
merchant  of  Boston,  and  relative  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States." 

BOYLSTON,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Merchant.  Went  to 
England  in  1776,  and  was  at  Bristol  in  Ainmst  of  that 

O  O 

year.  Remained  abroad,  and  died  at  Bath,  England,  in  1795, 
aged  eighty-six. 

BRADFORD,  WILLIAM.  Of  Massachusetts.  Graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1760.  He  removed  from  the  country, 
and  held  an  office  under  the  Crown  at  the  Bahamas.  He 
died  in  1801. 

BRADISH,  EBENEZKR.  A  lawyer  of  Worcester,  Massachu 
setts.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1769.  In 
1774  he  was  one  of  the  barristers  and  attorneys  who  were 
Addressers  of  Hntchinson.  He  died  in  1818. 

BRADSIIAW,  ELEAZER.  Of  Waltham,  Massachusetts.  Said 
he  would  sell  "  tea,"  and  do  as  he  thought  fit,  in  spite  of  Whig 
committees,  and  that  he  would  be  the  death  of  any  person 
who  should  molest  him.  The  committees  of  Waltham,  New 
ton,  Watertown,  Weston,  and  Sudbury,  examined  the  case, 
and  resolved  that  he  had  proved  himself  inimical  to  his  coun 
try,  and  cautioned  all  persons  against  dealing  with  him  until 
he  should  repent. 

BR ANNAN,  CHARLES.  He  was  in  the  King's  service  during 
the  war,  and  at  its  close  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick. 
He  removed  from  that  city  to  Fredericton  in  1785,  and  con 
tinued  there  until  his  decease  in  1828,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one. 

BRANTLEY,  -  — .  Of  Georgia.  Captain  of  a  Tory 
band.  The  captor  of  three  Whigs,  who,  doomed  to  die, 
were  stripped  to  the  shirt,  and  placed  in  a  position  to  be  shot. 
Two  were  killed,  the  other  escaped.  The  survivor,  David 
Emanuel,  lived  to  become  President  of  the  Senate,  and  to  fill 
the  Executive-chair  of  Georgia. 

BRATEN,  THOMAS.  Of  Charlotte  County,  New  York.  He 
was  a  constable  ;  and  in  1775  some  Whigs  declared  that 
"  they  would  have  him,  if  he  could  be  found  above  ground." 


250  BRATTLE. 

BRATTLE,  THOMAS.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  at 
Cambridge  in  1742,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
1760,  and  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  at  Yale  and  at  Nas 
sau.  His  family  connections  were  among  the  most  respect 
able  of  New  England.  In  1775  he  went  to  England,  and 
was  included  in  the  Proscription  and  Banishment  Act  of  1778. 
While  abroad,  he  travelled  over  various  parts  of  Great  Britain, 
and  made  a  tour  through  Holland  and  France  ;  and  was  no- 

O 

ticed  by  personages  of  distinction.  Returning  to  London,  he 
zealously  and  successfully  labored  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  his  countrymen,  who  had  been  captured,  and  were  in 
prison.  In  1779  he  came  to  America,  and  landed  at  Rhode 
Island.  In  1784  the  enactments  against  him  in  Massachusetts 
were  repealed,  and  he  took  possession  of  his  patrimony.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  liberality,  humanity,  and  science  ;  of  pub 
lic  spirit,  and  of  large  and  noble  views  of  men  and  things. 
He  died  in  February,  1801. 

The  late  Governor  James  Sullivan,  who  knew  him  well, 
thus  wyrote :  "  Major  Brattle  exercised  a  deep  reverence  to 
the  principles  of  Government,  and  was  a  cheerful  subject  of 
the  laws.  He  respected  men  of  science  as  the  richest  orna 
ment  of  their  country.  If  he  had  ambition,  it  was  to  excel  in 
acts  of  hospitality,  benevolence,  and  charity.  The  dazzling 
splendor  of  heroes,  and  the  achievements  of  political  intrigues, 
passed  unnoticed  before  him  ;  but  the  character  of  the  man 
of  benevolence  rilled  his  heart  with  emotions  of  sympathy." 
.  ..."  In  his  death,  the  sick,  the  poor,  and  the  distressed, 
have  lost  a  liberal  benefactor  ;  politeness  an  ornament  ;  and 
philanthropy  one  of  its  most  discreet  and  generous  supporters.'' 

BRATTLE,  WILLIAM.  Of  Massachusetts.  A  man  of  more 
eminent  talents  and  of  m-eater  eccentricities  has  seldom  lived. 

O 

He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1722  ;  and,  subse 
quently,  was  representative  from  Cambridge,  and  for  many 
years  a  member  of  the  Council.  He  seems  to  have  been  of 
every  profession,  and  to  have  been  eminent  in  all.  As  a 
clergyman,  his  preaching  was  acceptable  ;  as  a  physician,  he 
was  celebrated,  and  had  an  extensive  practice  ;  as  a  lawyer, 


BRATTLE.-BRENTON.  251 

lie  had  an  abundance  of  clients  ;  while  his  military  aptitudes 
secured  the  rank  of  major-general  of  the  militia,  an  office  in 
his  time  of  very  considerable  importance  and  high  honor. 
lie  loved  good  living.  He  possessed  the  happy  faculty  of 
pleasing  the  officers  of  Government  and  the  people.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Gage,  and  approving  of  his  plans,  he  at  length 
forfeited  the  good  will  of  the  Whigs,  and  went  into  exile. 
Accompanying  the  British  troops  at  the  evacuation  of  Bos 
ton,  he  went  to  Halifax,  and  died  there  in  1776,  a  few  months 
after  his  arrival.  His  father  was  Reverend  William  Brattle 
of  Cambridge.  His  first  wrife  was  a  daughter  of  Governor 
Saltonstall.  His  son,  Thomas  Brattle  of  Cambridge,  died  in 
1801. 

BRATTLE,  JAMES.  Servant  to  Governor  Tryon,  and  sub 
sequently  to  James  Duane,  a  member  of  Congress.  He  was 
in  the  habit  of  stealing  the  papers  of  the  latter,  and  of  trans 
mitting  them,  with  other  information,  to  the  former.  He  was 
detected,  and  sent  to  England  by  Tryon. 

BREMXER,  JOHN.  Of  Queen's  County,  New  York.  In 
177(3  he  signed  a  profession  of  loyalty  and  allegiance.  A 
person  of  this  name  died  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1807, 
aged  fifty-four. 

BREXTOX,  JAHLEEL.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Hear- Admiral 
in  the  Royal  Navy.  The  Brentons  emigrated  to  Massachu 
setts  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First.  The  first  Jahleel  was 
a  civil  officer  of  some  note  in  Boston,  and,  removing  to  Rhode 
Island,  died  Governor  of  that  Colony  near  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  the  Second.  The  second  Jahleel,  who  was 
son  of  the  first,  was  Collector  of  the  Customs  in  New  Eng 
land,  in  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary.  The  third  Jahleel 
was  a  large  land-owner,  and  married  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
Cranston,  Governor  of  Rhode  Island  ;  this  Jahleel  was  the 
father  of  five  sons,  of  whom  notices  follow ;  of  three  other 
sons,  and  of  seven  daughters. 

The  fourth  Jahleel  is  the  subject  of  this  notice.  He  was 
born  in  1729,  entered  the  navy  in  his  youth  ;  and,  a  lieutenant 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  was  living  quietly  on  his 


252  BRENTON. 

patrimonial  estate.  It  is  stated  that  lie  was  a  gentleman  of 
high  character  and  respectable  talents,  that  he  had  many 
warm  friends  among  the  Whig  leaders  who  endeavored  to 
enlist  his  sympathies  on  the  popular  side,  and  who  offered  him 
the  hio-hest  rank  in  the  naval  service  of  Congress.  Unyield- 

O  •/ 

ing  in  his  loyalty,  a  system  of  annoyance  and  persecution  was 
commenced  against  him,  which  compelled  him  to  leave  his 
wife  and  younger  children,  and  to  seek  shelter  on  board  of  an 
armed  ship  of  the  Crown  on  the  coast.  Two  of  his  elder  sons 
accompanied  him.  He  went  to  England,  and  was  put  on 
active  duty.  Before  the  peace  he  was  a  post-captain.  His 
estate  in  Rhode  Island  was  confiscated.  During  the  latter 
years  of  his  life,  he  received  "  the  comfortable  appointment 
of  Regulating  Captain  at  Edinburgh,"  which  situation  he  held 
until  his  death  in  1802.  His  wife  was  Henrietta  Crowley, 
and  was  the  mother  of  a  large  family.  She  joined  him  in 
England  in  1780,  with  the  children,  who  remained  with  her 
at  his  flight.  Of  Jahleel,  the  oldest,  presently.  Edward 
Pelham,  the  second  son,  who  died  a  post-captain,  in  London, 
in  1839,  and  whose  widow,  Margaretta  Diana,  died  in  the 
same  city  in  1843,  wrote  the  "  Naval  History  of  Great  Brit 
ain  from  1783  to  1822,'"  and  a  Biography  of  Admiral  Earl 
St.  Vincent,  and  was  the  founder  of  the  Children's  Friend 
Society.  James,  the  third  son,  lost  his  life  in  1799,  while 
performing  a  daring  exploit  in  the  Mediterranean,  under  Nel 
son.  His  widow,  Henrietta,  died  in  1820,  in  her  seventy- 
seventh  year.  Mary,  his  second  daughter,  died  at  Bath, 
England,  in  1845,  aged  seventy-six. 

BREXTOX,  SIR  JAHLEEL,  Baronet.  Of  Rhode  Island. 
Reai-Admiral  of  the  Blue,  K.  C.  B.  and  K.  S.  F.  The  fifth 
Jahleel,  and  son  of  the  fourth.  He  was  born  in  Rhode  Island 
in  1770  ;  entered  the  navy  as  a  midshipman  in  1781,  and 
served  first  in  the  Queen,  commanded  by  his  father.  At  the 
peace  he  was  placed  in  the  Naval  School,  Chelsea,  where  he 
remained  two  years.  From  1787  to  1789,  he  was  an  officer 
of  the  Dido,  Captain  Sandys,  employed  in  surveying  the  coast 
of  Nova  Scotia.  Until  the  peace  of  Aineins,  in  1802,  he  was 


BRENTON.  253 

constantly  afloat,  and  performed  much  hard  duty.  The  cap 
tains  under  whom  he  served  during  this  period,  uniformly 
commended  his  conduct.  Among  the  distinguished  naval 
officers  who  were  his  warm  friends  in  after  life,  were  Sauma- 
rez,  St.  Vincent,  Collingwood,  and  Nelson.  After  several 
years'  service  in  the  renewed  warfare  against  Napoleon,  and 
in  1812,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Stirling 
Castle  74,  but  resigned  that  ship  the  same  year  ;  was  created 
a  Baronet,  and  commissioned  Resident-Commissioner  of  the 
Balearic  Islands.  In  1815  he  was  transferred  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  as  Commissioner  of  the  Dock-yard,  and  re 
mained  in  office  until  1821.  He  returned  to  England  in 
1822,  and  the  year  after  was  appointed  a  Colonel  of  Marines. 
In  1829  he  was  in  command  of  the  ship  Donegal,  at  Sheer- 
ness.  Subsequently,  he  was  created  Vice-Admiral  and  Lieu 
tenant-Governor  of  Greenwich  Hospital.  He  retired  from 
duty  in  1840,  and  received  the  pension  "  dropped  "  by  the 
decease  of  his  old  companion,  Sir  Sidney  Smith.  He  estab 
lished  his  residence  in  Westmoreland,  thence  removed  to  a 
cottage  in  Staffordshire.  He  died  at  Elford,  April,  1844, 
in  his  seventy-fourth  year. 

His  first  wife,  who  died  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1817, 
was  Isabella,  daughter  of  Anthony  Stewart,  a  Loyalist  of 
Maryland.  Sir  Jahleel  met  her  at  Halifax,  (to  which  place 
her  father  had  fled  during  the  Revolution)  in  1787,  when  a 
midshipman  on  the  Nova  Scotia  station  ;  and  though  a  mutual 
attachment  arose,  they  were  separated  eleven  years  without 
seeing  each  other  once.  They  met  in  England,  and  were 
married  in  the  year  1802.  His  second  wife  (whom  he  mar 
ried  in  1822)  was  his  cousin  Harriet,  daughter  of  James 
Brenton,  of  Halifax. 

BRENTON,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Brother  of  the 
fourth  Jahleel.  In  the  Revolution,  a  "  contractor  "  for  the 
Royftl  forces.  Estate  confiscated.  Died  in  1830.  His  wife 
was  Rachel,  daughter  of  Silas  Cooke. 

BRENTON,  SAMUEL.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Brother  of  the 
fourth  Jahleel.  I  glean  simply,  that  he  died  in  1797  ;  and 

VOL.  i.  22 


254  BRENTON.  —  BREWERTON. 

that  his  wife   was   Susan  Cooke,   sister   of  the   wife   of  his 
brother  Benjamin. 

BRENTON,  JAMES.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Brother  of  the 
fourth  Jahleel.  He  went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  was  a  notary- 
public  as  early  as  September,  1775,  at  Halifax.  He  was 
afterward  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  member  of 
the  Council.  In  the  year  1800  he  was  appointed  Judge  of 
Vice-Admiralty.  He  died  at  Halifax  in  1806,  or  early  the 
year  following. 

His  first  wife  was  Rebecca  Scott ;  his  second,  a  Miss  Rus 
sell,  of  Halifax.  Edward,  the  only  son  of  the  first  marriage, 
was  bred  to  the  law,  and  in  1835  was  a  Judge  in  Newfound 
land.  Another  son,  John,  was  secretary  to  Admiral  Provost 
on  the  East  India  station,  and  a  captain  in  the  British  Navy. 
Harriet,  a  daughter,  married  her  cousin,  (the  fifth  Jahleel), 
Admiral  Sir  Jahleel  Brenton. 

BRENTON,  WILLIAM.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Brother  of  the 
fourth  Jahleel.  Born  in  1749.  In  exile  during  the  Revolu 
tion,  he  was  allowed,  by  a  law  of  1783,  to  visit  and  remain 
with  his  friends  one  week  ;  then  required  to  depart  and  not 
to  return.  His  wife  was  Frances  Wickham.  In  1835  two 
of  his  sons  were  in  the  British  Navy. 

BREWERTON,  GEORGE.  Of  New  York.  In  the  French 
war  he  was  in  command  of  a  regiment  of  that  Colony.  In 
June,  1776,  he  was  charged  with  dangerous  designs  and  trea 
sonable  conspiracies  against  the  Whig  cause ;  and,  at  the  in 
stance  of  Livingston,  Morris,  and  Jay,  a  warrant  was  issued 
by  General  Greene  for  his  apprehension  and  the  seizure  of 
his  papers.  Brewerton  surrendered  himself  to  the  General, 
who  sent  him  to  his  accusers.  In  his  examination  he  stated 
that  ''instead  of  aiding  the  Ministerial  armies,  he  had  advised 
and  persuaded  men  to  enlist  in  the  Continental  service." 
But  he  was  held  to  good  behavior  to  the  Whigs  in  a  bond 
for  <£500,  with  Jacob  Brewerton  as  surety.  Subsequently, 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  Crown,  and  commanded  the 
second  battalion  of  De  Lancey's  brigade.  He  died  in  1779. 
His  widow,  three  sons,  and  two  daughters,  arrived  at  New 
York,  from  London,  September,  1786. 


BRICE.  —  BRINLEY.  255 

BRICE,  RIGDEN.  Of  Georgia.  In  the  effort  to  reestablish 
the  Royal  Government,  in  1779,  he  was  appointed  Marshal  of 
the  Court  of  Admiralty.  In  1782  he  was  Muster-master- 
General  of  the  Loyalist  forces  in  the  South.  He  went  to 
England  and  died  there  in  1796. 

BRIGDEN,  EDWARD.  Of  North  Carolina.  An  estate,  con 
fiscated  during  the  war,  was  restored  to  him- by  Act  of  Novem 
ber,  1785  ;  I  find  it  said,  at  the  express  recommendation  of 
Dr.  Franklin. 

BRIGG,  STEPHEN.  In  December,  1783,  warrant  issued  on 
petition  of  the  Selectmen  of  Stanford,  Connecticut,  ordering 
him  to  depart  that  town  forthwith,  and  never  return. 

BRIDGHAM,  EBENEZER.  Merchant  of  Boston.  Was  pro 
scribed  and  banished  in  1778.  He  went  to  Halifax  in  1776, 
with  his  family  of  four  persons.  In  1782  he  was  Deputy 
Inspector-General  of  the  Loyalist  forces.  In  1783  he  went 
to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city. 

BRIDGMAN,   — .      An    "American    Loyalist,"   whose 

daughter  married  Sir  John  Hatten,  Baronet,  of  Long  Stan- 
ton,  Cambridgeshire,  in  1798.  Sir  John  died  in  1811,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Thomas  Dingley  Hatten, 
the  present  Baronet. 

BRIDGEWATER,  JOHN.  In  1782  he  was  a  captain  in  the 
Prince  of  Wales  American  Volunteers.  He  went  to  Eng 
land,  and  died  there  in  1803,  in  his  seventieth  year. 

BRILL,  DAVID.  Went  to  New  Brunswick  in  1783.  Died 
in  Queen's  County  in  1848,  aged  eighty-seven. 

BRINLEY,  THOMAS.  Merchant  of  Boston.  Graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1744.  His  name  appears  among  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty-four  merchants  and  others,  who  ad 
dressed  Hutchinson  at  Boston,  in  1774  ;  and  among  the  ninety- 
seven  gentlemen  and  principal  inhabitants  of  that  town,  who 
addressed  Gage  in  October  of  the  following  year.  He  went 
to  Halifax  in  1776,  and  to  England  the  same  year.  In  1778 

£5  «/ 

he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  died  in  1784.  Eliza 
beth,  his  widow,  died  in  England  in  1793. 

BRINLEY,  GEORGE.     Merchant  of  Boston.     An  Addresser 


256  BRINLEY. 

of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775  ;  was  proscribed 
and  banished  in  1778.  He  was  in  England  in  1783,  at  which 
time  he  was  Deputy  Commissary-General.  In  1799  he  was 
appointed  Commissary-General  of  his  Majesty's  forces  in  Brit 
ish  America.  He  died  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1809  ;  and 
Mary,  his  widow,  died  at  the  same  place  in  1819.  His  son 
Thomas,  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  army,  and  Quartermaster- 
General  of  the  British  troops  in  the  West  Indies,  died  in  1805 
on  one  of  the  islands  of  his  station.  I  find  the  death  of  Wil 
liam  Birch  Brinley,  at  Halifax,  1812,  aged  forty. 

BRINLEY,  NATHANIEL.  Of  Framing-ham,  Massachusetts, 
and  son  of  Colonel  Francis  Brinley.  About  the  year  1760, 
he  leased  the  "  Brinley  Farm  "  of  Oliver  DeLancey,  agent  of 
the  owner,  Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren  of  the  Royal  Navy, 
and,  as  is  said,  employed  fifteen  or  twenty-negroes,  (slaves, 
probably,)  in  its  cultivation.  It  is  related,  too,  that  Daniel 
Shays,  the  leader  of  the  insurrection  in  1786,  was  in  the  ser 
vice  of  Mr.  Brinley  on  this  farm.  In  1775,  our  Loyalist  was 
an  Addresser  of  Gage,  and  was  ordered,  in  consequence,  to 
confine  himself  to  his  own  leasehold.  He  soon  fled  to  the 
Royal  Army  in  Boston.  After  the  evacuation  of  that  town,  he 
was  sent  to  Framing-ham  by  sentence  of  a  Court  of  Inquiry, 
ordered  to  give  bond  in  £600,  with  two  sureties,  to  remain 
there  four  months  and  to  be  of  good  behavior.  In  September, 
1776,  Ebenezer  Marshall,  in  behalf  of  the  Committee  of 
Correspondence,  Inspection  and  Safety,  represented  that  the 
"  people  take  him  for  a  very  villian,"  as  he  had  declared  that 
"  Parliament  had  an  undoubted  right  to  make  void  the  char 
ter  in  part  or  in  whole  ;  "  that  "  ten  thousand  troops,  with 
an  artillery,  would  go  through  the  Continent,  and  subdue  it 
at  pleasure ;  "  that  he  had  conveyed  u  his  best  furniture  to 
Roxbury,  and  moved  his  family  and  goods  into  Boston," 
and  had  himself  remained  there  "  as  long  as  he  could  have 
the  protection  of  the  British  troops ;  '*  that  "  he  approved  of 
General  Gage's  conduct  in  the  highest  terms  ; "  that  "  his 
most  intimate  connections  were  some  of  our  worst  enemies 
and  traitors ; "  and  that,  while  he  had  been  under  their  in- 


BRINLEY.  —  BRITTAIN.  257 

spection,  they  had  seen  nothing  "  either  in  his  conduct  or  dis 
position,  that  discovers  the  least  contrition,  but  otherwise." 

To  some  of  these  allegations,  Mrs.  Brinley  replied  in  two 
memorials  to  the  General  Court.  She  averred  that,  by  the 
conditions  of  the  recognizance,  her  husband  was  entitled  to 
the  freedom  of  the  whole  of  the  town  of  Framingham  ;  that 
he  was  in  custody  on  the  sole  charge  of  addressing  Gage ;  and 
that,  instead  of  being  a  refugee  in  Boston,  he  was  shut  up  in 
that  town  while  accidentally  there,  &c.  She  complained  that 
at  one  time,  he  had  been  compelled  to  work  on  John  Fisk's 
farm,  without  liberty  to  go  more  than  twenty  rods  from  the 
house,  unless  in  Fisk's  presence ;  and  that  he  was  denied  the 
free  nse  of  pen,  ink  and  paper.  Again,  she  said  that  Mr. 
Brinley,  after  his  transfer  to  the  care  of  Benjamin  Eaton,  was 
restricted  to  the  house,  and  was  fearful  that  his  departure  from 
it  would  occasion  the  loss  of  his  life ;  and  that  no  person,  even 
herself,  was  allowed  to  converse  with  him,  unless  in  the  hear 
ing  of  some  member  of  Eaton's  family.  And  she  prayed  that 
he  might  be  removed  to  some  other  inland  town,  and  be  treated 
in  accordance  with  his  sentence.  Mr.  Brinley's  defence  of  him 
self  seems  to  have  been  the  simple  remark :  "  I  am  a  gentle 
man,  and  have  done  nothing  to  forfeit  that  character." 

I  am  able  to  trace  this  unhappy  "  Government-man  "  only 
a  step  farther.  On  the  17th  September,  1776,  the  General 
Court,  by  resolve,  committed  him  to  the  care  of  his  father,  on 
security  in  X600  for  his  appearance  ;  and,  in  October  of  the 
same  year,  the  Committee  of  Framingham  reported  to  the 
Council  that  they  had  disposed  of  his  farm-stock,  farm-uten 
sils,  and  household  furniture.  Possibly,  Nathaniel  Brinley, 
who  died  at  Tyngsborough  in  1814,  aged  eighty-one,  was  the 
subject  of  this  notice. 

BRITTAIN,  JAMES.  Of  New  Jersey.  He  wished  to  take 
no  part  in  the  Revolutionary  controversy,  but  having  become 
obnoxious,  his  house  was  surrounded  by  a  party  of  about  thir 
ty,  who  robbed  and  plundered  him  at  pleasure.  He  escaped 
to  the  woods,  where  his  wife  fed  him  for  nearly  a  month. 
Emerging  from  his  hiding  place,  he  joined  Skinner  with 
*22 


258  BRITTAIN.  -  BROKENBOROUGH. 

seventy  men,  whom  he  had  engaged  to  bear  arms  against 
the  rebels.  He  was  in  a  number  of  battles.  In  one,  he 
was  taken  prisoner,  and  doomed  to  suffer  death.  The  day 
before  that  appointed  for  his  execution,  he  broke  from  prison, 
swam  the  Delaware,  and  joined  his  corps.  In  1782  he  was  an 
ensign  in  the  first  battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers,  and  at 
the  peace,  a  lieutenant.  In  1783  he  went  to  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  in  the  ship  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  was  the  gran 
tee  of  a  city  lot.  He  received  half-pay.  He  was  a  colonel  of 
New  Brunswick  militia,  and,  at  his  decease,  the  oldest  magis 
trate  in  King's  County.  He  died  at  Greenwich  in  that  county 
in  1838,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven.  Ten  children  survived 
him.  His  widow,  Eleanor,  died  at  Greenwich  in  1846,  aged 
ninety-four.  His  daughter  Eleanor  married  Walker  Tisdale, 
Esquire,  of  St.  John. 

BRITTAIN,  JOSEPH.  Of  New  Jersey.  Brother  of  James. 
He  was  an  ensign  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers,  and  was 
taken  prisoner  with  James,  doomed  to  the  same  fate,  and 
made  his  escape  at  the  same  time.  He  went  to  St.  John  in 
the  ship  Duke  of  Richmond  in  1780,  and  died  in  1830,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-two,  in  King's  County.  He  received  half-pay. 

BRITTAIN,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  Jersey.  Brother  of  James 
and  Joseph.  He  was  in  the  King's  service,  but  not  in  com 
mission.  He  shared  in  the  captivity,  and  in  the  escape  of 
James  and  Joseph.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
at  the  peace,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  died  in  New 
Brunswick  about  the  year  1811. 

BRITTENNY,  JOHN.  In  1783  he  removed  to  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  settled  in  King's  County,  where  he  continued  to 
reside  until  his  decease,  a  period  of  upwards  of  sixty-three 
years.  He  died  at  Greenwich  in  1846,  in  the  ninety-fifth 
year  of  his  age. 

BROKENBOROUGH,  AUSTIN.  Of  Virginia.  He  was  son  of 
Colonel  William  Brokenborough,  and  served  with  Washing 
ton  under  Braddock.  "  Like  some  of  the  old  clergy,  he 
thought  he  was  perpetually  bound  by  his  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  king."  He  wished  to  remain  here,  however,  on  ac- 


BROKENBOROUGII.  —  BROOKS.  259 

count  of  his  family,  friends,  and  property  ;  and  petitioned  the 
Assembly  to  be  allowed  the  position  of  a  neutral  —  to  obey 
the  laws,  but  to  keep  clear  of  the  "  rebellion."  His  request 
was  not  only  refused,  but  five  companies  of  men  proceeded  to 
his  house  to  inflict  signal' punishment  for  his  contumacy.  He 
escaped  and  went  to  England.  While  abroad,  he  lived  prin 
cipally  in  London,  with  several  other  Loyalists  of  the  South, 
who,  by  his  account,  "  had  a  merry  time  of  it,  dining  and 
supping  at  various  inns,"  visiting  theatres  and  other  places  of 
amusement.  He  "  speaks  of  taking  two  dinners  at  different 
taverns  .  .  .  the  same  day,  and  of  two  suppers  the  same 
night,  and  of  being  quite  drunk,  with  all  the  rest  of  the  com 
pany,"  on  another  occasion.  Again,  he  mentions  an  evening 
at  Vauxhall  with  ladies,  and  says  that  all,  except  the  young 
ones,  "  drank  too  freely,  and  were  vociferous."  But  he  went 
to  church,  and  was  a  frequent  listener  to  the  debates  in  Par 
liament.  It  was  his  fortune  to  hear  Chatham's  last  speech, 
when,  as  all  recollect,  his  Lordship  fainted  and  was  carried 
home. 

Mr.  Brokenborough  was  absent  seven  years.  Time,  finally, 
passed  heavily.  His  father  and  youngest  son  were  dead  ;  his 
estate  was  mismanaged,  wasting  away,  and  liable  to  confisca- 

O  O  t/  ' 

tion.  He  resolved  to  return,  and  arrived  in  Virginia  in  1782, 
but,  by  advice  of  his  brother,  did  not  venture  home.  For 
awhile,  he  was  in  Charleston,  S.  C.  ;  but,  at  last,  resumed  his 
abode  in  the  Old  Dominion. 

BROOKS,  JAMES.  It  was  reported  that  letters  written  by 
him,  by  Dr.  Kearsley,  and  others,  were  in  possession  of  a 
woman  who  concealed  them  in  a  pocket  sewed  to  the  lower 
part  of  her  inner  garment,  and  who  was  on  ship-board,  bound 
to  London  ;  and  the  letters  having  been  secured,  and  found 
abusive  of  the  Whigs  and  of  their  cause,  he  was  committed  to 
prison  in  Philadelphia,  thence  transferred  to  the  jail  of  Lan 
caster.  The  Committee  of  Safety  of  Pennsylvania  resolved 
that  he  was  an  enemy  to  the  liberties  of  America. 

He  was  kept  in  confinement  two  years,  lacking  a  single 
day.  His  own  account  is,  that  the  windows  next  to  the  street 


260  BROOKS.  —  BROWNE. 

were  blocked  up  ;  that  thirty-five  barrels  of  gunpowder  were 
stored  on  the  floor  above  his  head,  —  and  tons  more  in  the 
next  room,  defended  from  the  common  misfortune  of  fire  by 
a  shingled  roof  merely  ;  that  a  guard  of  fourteen  men  beat 
their  drums  for  the  sake  of  persecution  ;  that  he  was  denied 
the  sight  and  speech  of  mankind,  and  the  use  of  pen,  ink  and 
paper  ;  and  that  he  "  had  the  use  of  his  legs  taken  from  him 
by  day,  and  was  brought  to  by  warm  water  at  night." 

BROOKS,  CAPTAIX  .  Commanded  a  party  of  plun 
derers.  On  one  occasion,  early  in  1783,  while  on  an  expedi 
tion  in  the  Delaware,  a  Methodist  preacher  fell  into  his  hands, 
and  was  required  to  preach  or  to  be  whipped  to  death.  The 
minister  declining:  to  give  a  sermon  to  such  hearers,  was  tied 

&  O 

up  and  received  nearly  one  hundred  lashes.  On  his  promise 
never  to  serve  the  rebels  more,  he  was  allowed  to  depart,  much 
exhausted  and  lacerated. 

BROWNE,  THOMAS.  Of  Augusta,  Georgia.  Was  an  early 
victim  of  a  mob,  and  was  tarred  and  feathered,  soon  after  the 
division  and  array  of  parties  in  the  Southern  Colonies.  He 
entered  the  Royal  service,  and  commanded,  as  lieutenant- 
colonel,  a  corps  called  the  King's  Rangers,  Carolina.  At  the 
peace,  he  retired,  it  is  believed,  to  Florida,  and  thence  to  the 

Bahamas.     He  was  known  during  hostilities  as  a  sanguinary 

&        '  j 

and  active  officer,  and  his  conduct  is  open  to  severe  censure. 

Such  the  text,  such  the  meagre  account  of  this  partisan 
leader,  in  the  first  edition.  The  notice  of  him  now  is  as  full 
as  the  reader  can  desire,  and  is  the  result  of  more  labor  than 
I  care  to  state. 

Mr.  Simms,  in  the  Advertisement  to  "  Mellichampe"  says 
that  Barsfield's  story,  as  related  in  the  thirty-seventh  chapter 
of  that  work,  "  bears  a  close  resemblance  to  the  recorded 
history  of  the  notorious  Colonel  Browne,  of  Augusta,  one  of 
the  most  malignant  and  vindictive  among  the  Southern  Loyal 
ists,  and  one  who  is  said  to  have  become  so  solely  from  the 
illegal  and  unjustifiable  means  employed  by  the  Patriots  to 
make  him  otherwise."  And,  adds  Mr.  Simms,  with  truth, 
"  The  whole  history  is  one  of  curious  interest,  and,  if  studied, 


BROWNE.  261 

of  great  public  value.  It  shows  strikingly  the  evils  to  a  whole 
nation,  and  through  successive  years,  of  a  single  act  of  pop 
ular  injustice." 

Whoever  would  know  the  nature  of  the  warfare  between 
the  Whigs  and  Tories  at  the  South,  should  carefully  read 
u  Mellichampe,"  and  the  other  tales  of  the  distinguished  au 
thor,  of  the  same  era.  He  vouches  for  their  general  historical 
accuracy,  and  no  well-informed  person  will  question  the  faith 
fulness  of  his  pen.  The  perusal  of  the  tale  in  question,  exci 
ted  my  own  curiosity,  I  confess,  and  led  me  to  examine  every 
book  and  document  within  reach,  which  seemed  likely  to  afford 
me  information  of  the  original  of  "  Barsfield." 

I  find  Browne  at  Augusta  in  1775,  expressing  his  enmity 
to  the  Whigs,  and  ridiculing  them  in  toasts  at  dinner. 
Warned  of  danger,  he  fled.  By  order  of  the  "  Committee," 
he  was  pursued  to  New  Richmond,  South  Carolina,  brought 
back,  tried,  and  sentenced  to  be  tarred  and  feathered  ;  to  be 
publicly  exposed  in  a  cart  ;  to  be  drawn  three  miles,  or  until 
he  should  confess  his  error,  and  swear  fealty  to  the  popular 
cause.  He  refused  to  make  any  concession,  was  punished  as 
doomed,  and  published  as  "  no  gentleman."  To  conceal  his 
disgrace  as  well  as  he  could,  he  kept  his  hair  short,  and  wore 
a  handkerchief  around  his  head.  He  soon  retreated  to 
Florida.  In  1776  he  was  in  command  of  a  corps,  and  made 
fearful  incursions  on  the  banks  of  the  Savannah  ;  but  his  force 
was  small.  In  1778,  when  he  was  joined  by  about  three  hun 
dred  Tories  from  the  interior  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina, 
his  regiment  was  completed,  and  put  in  uniform.  A  year 
later,  at  the  head  of  four  hundred  mounted  men,  he  made 
a  forced  march  to  Augusta  ;  and,  after  being  wounded,  and 
twice  defeated  by  Whigs  under  Twiggs  and  Few,  he  reached 
that  place,  and  established  a  military  post.  Reinforced  by 
detachments  from  other  corps,  of  undoubted  skill  and  bravery, 
exact  in  discipline,  among  the  very  people  who  had  treated 
him  with  the  greatest  indignity,  and  relentless  in  his  mode 
of  warfare,  the  "  Rebels  "  had  everything  to  fear  from  his 
disposition  and  his  operations.  As  soon  as  the  condition  of 


262  BROWNE. 

the  Whigs  would  allow,  and  in  1780,  Colonel  Clarke  appeared 
with  a  force,  sufficient,  as  was  thought,  to  compel  him  to 
submit  to  terms  of  capitulation.  Browne's  conduct  during 
the  siege  illustrates  the  best  and  the  worst  qualities  of  his 
character.  The  accounts  are  conflictino-.  But  it  seems  certain 

cr^ 

that,  as  the  town  did  not  afford  an  eligible  position  for  defence, 
Browne  marched  out  with  his  troops  and  some  Indians, 
assailed  Clarke  on  an  eminence,  and  dislodged  him,  after  a 
sanguinary  fight.  It  appears,  also,  that  the  Loyalist  leader 
was  subsequently  driven,  with  the  men  under  his  personal 
command,  into  a  sort  of  garrison  house,  from  which  he  main 
tained  a  desperate  resistance  ;  that  he  himself  was  shot 
through  both  thighs ;  that  while  tortured  with  the  pain  of 
dangerous  wounds  and  swollen  legs,  he  still  directed  every 
movement ;  that  the  besiegers  cut  off  the  supply  of  water, 
for  which,  in  the  fertility  of  his  resources,  he  found  a  remedy, 
in  saving  and  dealing  out  urine,  of  which  he  was  the  first  to 
drink  ;  that  his  wounded  died  for  the  want  of  surgical  aid 
and  hospital  stores  ;  that  he  was  repeatedly  summoned  to 
surrender  ;  and  that  he  held  out  four  days,  and  until  relieved 
by  Cruger.  All  this,  in  a  military  man,  is  admirable;  what 
followed  is  unconditionally  infamous.  Clarke,  in  his  retreat, 
left  a  part  of  his  wounded,  of  whom  thirteen  were  hung  in  the 
stair-way,  and  four  in  other  parts  of  the  garrison-house,  and 
several  others  were  turned  over  to  the  Indians  and  burned 
alive.  The  thirteen,  it  is  said,  were  executed  in  Browne's 
presence,  "  that  he  might  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
victims  of  his  vengeance  expire."  So,  too,  in  1780,  he 
ordered  five  persons  to  be  hung,  and  when  nearly  dead,  they 
were  cut  down  and  delivered  to  the  Indians,  who  scalped  and 
and  otherwise  mutilated  one  of  them.  One  of  these  was  a 
youth  of  seventeen,  and  the  son  of  a  widow. 

He  kept  Augusta  until  June,  1781,  when,  after  a  siege  of 
nearly  three  months,  in  which  he  displayed  his  usual  courage, 
activity,  and  patience  under  sufferings,  he  surrendered  the 
post  to  Pickens  and  Lee.  The  accusation  against  him  at  this 
time  is,  that  he  placed  an  aged  prisoner  in  a  bastion,  where 


BROWNE.  263 

he  was  exposed  to  death  from  the  hands  of  his  own  son,  who 
commanded  a  Whig  battery.  By  the  terms  of  capitulation, 
Colonel  Browne  was  allowed  to  go  to  Savannah  ;  and  he  was 
so  generally  hated  that,  had  he  not  been  specially  and  strongly 
guarded,  while  on  the  way  thither,  it  is  probable  he  would 
have  been  torn  limb  from  limb.  He  passed  among  the  inhab 
itants  whose  houses  he  had  burned  and  whose  relatives  and 
friends  he  had  executed.  The  mother  of  one  whom  he  had  put 
to  death  said  to  him :  "  In  the  late  day  of  your  prosperity,  I 
visited  your  camp,  and  on  my  knees  supplicated  for  the  life  of 
my  son,  but  you  were  deaf  to  my  entreaties.  You  hanged  him, 
though  a  beardless  youth,  before  my  face.  These  eyes  saw 
him  scalped  by  the  savages  under  your  immediate  command. 
.  .  .  When  you  resume  the  sword,  I  will  go  five  hundred 
miles  to  demand  satisfaction  at  the  point  of  it.7' 

This  woman  met  Browne  and  his  escort,  as  is  said,  armed 
with  a  knife,  for  the  purpose  of  killing  him,  but  was  not  allowed 
to  speak  to  him  until  she  promised  to  forbear ;  and  she  was  ac 
companied  by  a  son  who  went  with  the  same  intention.  Though 
he  escaped  assassination,  the  adherents  of  the  Crown  seem  to 
have  expected  that  he  would  be  publicly  executed.  After  the 
fall  of  Charleston,  the  firm  Whigs  who  refused  to  swear  alle 
giance  were  sent  to  Florida,  and  the  officer  in  command  at  St. 
Augustine  threatened  to  hang  six  of  them  if  Browne  was  not 
treated  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  After  he  was  exchanged,  he 
served  at  Savannah.  In  May,  1782,  he  marched  out  of  the 
garrison  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force,  with  the  apparent 
intention  of  attacking  the  Whigs  ;  but  Wayne,  by  a  bold 
movement,  got  between  him  and  the  town,  assailed  him  at 
midnight,  and  routed  his  whole  command. 

In  October,  1782,  the  Rangers  were  sent  from  Charleston 
to  relieve  the  troops  at  St.  Augustine.  At  the  peace,  when 
they  were  disbanded,  a  part  remained  in  Florida,  and  a  part 
attempted  to  settle  at  a  place  in  Nova  Scotia,  called  St.  Mary's. 
Colonel  Browne  had  estates  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina, 
which  were  confiscated  ;  and,  attainted  of  treason  in  both 
States,  he  retreated  to  the  Bahamas.  From  these  islands,  and 


264  BROWNE. 

in  1786,  he  wrote  an  elaborate  reply  to  Ramsay's  comments 
on  his  conduct  during  the  war,  addressed  to  the  historian 
himself.  The  paper  is  not  without  ability. 

He  relates  the  unjustifiable  course  of  the  Whigs,  and  dwells 
with  emphasis  on  special  cases ;  he  insists  that  in  the  instances 
which  are  cited  to  show  his  own  barbarity,  he  did  but  execute 
retributive  justice  on  offenders  who  were  identified,  and  who 
confessed  their  crimes.  He  refers  to  the  tarring  and  feathering 
twelve  years  previously,  in  these  words  :  "  Could  violations 
of  humanity  be  justified  by  example,  the  cruelties  exercised 
on  my  person  by  a  lawless  committee  ....  might  have  jus 
tified  the  severest  vengeance  ;  but,  esteeming  it  more  honor 
able  to  forgive  than  to  revenge  an  injury  to  those  men  who 
had  treated  me  with  the  most  merciless  cruelty,  I  granted 
protection  and  safeguards  to  such  as  desired  them."  He 
avers  that  all  the  allegations  against  him  which  touch  his 
reputation  as  an  officer  and  as  a  man,  are  false ;  and  thus,  — 
"  In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  my  profession,  I  can  say 
with  truth,  I  never  deviated  from  the  line  of  conduct  the 
laws  of  war  and  humanity  prescribed."  And  again  :  "  The 
criminal  excesses  of  individuals  were  never  warranted  by  au 
thority,  nor  ever  obtained  the  sanction  of  my  approbation." 
He  speaks  of  Lee,  as  a  gentleman  of  the  most  honorable  and 
liberal  sentiments  ;  but  of  Pickens,  as  permitting  murder  of 
prisoners  under  his  own  eye. 

In  1809,  Colonel  Browne  was  in  England,  and  petitioned 
for  a  grant  of  Crown  lands  in  the  West  Indies.  The  govern 
ment  gave  him  six  thousand  acres  in  the  island  of  St.  Vin 
cent.  I  find  it  stated  that,  by  some  mistake,  a  part  of  the 
tract  had  been  previously  granted  to  persons  who  could  not 
be  dispossessed  without  great  injury  ;  and  that  the  munificent 
sum  of  £ 30, 000  was  allowed  him  in  money  as  an  equivalent. 
It  is  said,  too,  that  the  Colonel  was  subsequently  implicated 
in  matters  connected  with  this  very  domain  ;  and  that,  in 
1812,  he  was  convicted  in  London  of  forgery.  The  story 
seems  to  me  improbable.  There  was  hardly  a  Loyalist  in  the 
thirteen  Colonies  who,  for  his  individual  losses,  received  so 


BROWNE.  2(35 

large  a  sum  as  —  in  whole  numbers  —  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  ;  and,  at  the  period  in  question,  a  man 
adjudged  guilty  of  forgery,  in  England,  would  have  been 
executed,  especially  if  the  crime,  —  as  alleged  in  this  case, 
-  was  a  fabrication  of  the  signatures  of  high  officers  of  the 
Government. 

Colonel  Browne  died  in  St.  Vincent  in  1825.  His  wife  died 
there  in  1807.  Of  his  own  decease  there  appeared  the  fol 
lowing  notice  :  —  "  At  an  advanced  age,  Colonel  Thomas 
Browne.  During  the  American  war  he  distinguished  himself 
as  a  gallant  and  enterprising  officer,  and  among  other  re 
peated  marks  of  his  Sovereign's  approbation,  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  Colonel-Commandant  of  his  Majesty's  late 
regiment  of  South  Carolina,  or  Queen's  Rangers,  and  made 
also  Superintendent-General  of  Indian  Affairs,  in  the  South 
ern  districts  of  North  America." 

BIIOWXE,  WILLIAM.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Was  a 
grandson  of  Governor  Burnet,  a  great-grandson  of  Bishop 
Burnet,  and  a  connection  of  Winthrop,  the  first  resident 
Governor  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  graduated  at  Harvard  Uni 
versity  in  1755.  A  member  of  the  General  Court  in  1768, 
he  was  one  of  the  seventeen  Rescinders.  He  was  a  Colonel 
of  the  Essex  County  militia  ;  one  of  the  ten  Mandamus 
Counsellors  who  were  sworn  in,  and  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

In  1774,  John  Adams  l  said  :  "  I  had  a  real  respect  for 
the  Judges.  Trowrbridge,  dishing,  and  Browne,  I  could  call 
my  friends."  That  very  year,  the  Essex  County  Convention 
voted,  "  That  a  Committee  be  raised  to  wait  on  the  Honor 
able  William  Browne,  Esquire,  of  Salem,  and  acquaint  him, 
that  with  grief  this  County  has  viewed  his  exertions  for  car 
rying  into  execution  the  Acts  of  Parliament,  calculated  to 
enslave  and  ruin  his  native  land,"  &c.,  &c. 

This  Committee  consisted  of  Jeremiah  Lee,  Samuel  Hoi- 
ton,  and  Elbridge  Gerry.  They  waited  upon  Mr.  Browne  in 
Boston,  on  the  19th  of  September,  who  returned  a  written 

1  A  classmate  of  Judge  Browne,  at  Harvard. 
VOL.  i.  23 


266  BROWNE. 

answer,  in  which  he  says  that  he  "  cannot  consent  to  defeat 
his  Majesty's  intentions  and  disappoint  his  expectations,  by 
abandoning  a  post  to  which  he  lias  been  graciously  pleased  to 
appoint  him,'"  etc.,  and  that,  "  as  a  Judge,  and  in  every  other 
capacity/'  he  "  intended  to  act  with  honor  and  integrity,'1 
&c.,  &c. 

He  was  an  Addresser  of  Gage,  was  included  in  the  Ban 
ishment  Act  of  1778,  and  in  the  Conspiracy  Act  of  the  year 
following.  He  was  the  owner  of  immense  landed  estates, 
which  were  confiscated.  Prior  to  the  Revolutionary  troubles, 
lie  enjoyed  great  popularity,  and  strong  inducements  were 
held  out  to  him  to  join  the  Whigs.  He  was  in  London  as 
early  as  May  4,  1776,  and  gave  his  fellow-exiles  some  par 
ticulars  relative  to  the  evacuation  of  Boston.  His  wife, 
who  complained  of  her  treatment  at  Salem  and  Boston, 
after  his  departure,  does  not  appear  to  have  joined  him  in 
England,  until  the  spring  of  1778.  In  1781,  he  was  ap 
pointed  Governor  of  the  Bermudas,  and  administered  the 
affairs  of  these  islands  in  a  manner  to  secure  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  people.  He  died  in  England,  February, 
1802.  aged  sixty-five. 

BROWNE,  ARTHUR.  Of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. 
An  Episcopal  clergyman.  Was  educated  at  Trinity  Col 
lege,  Dublin.  He  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  London, 
and  assumed  the  charge  of  a  society  at  Providence,  Rhode 
Island.  In  1736  he  removed  to  Portsmouth,  and  became 
the  first  minister  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  that  town,  and 
continued  his  connection  until  his  decease.  He  died  at  Cam 
bridge,  Massachusetts,  in  1773,  aged  seventy-three.  His  re 
mains  were  carried  to  Portsmouth  and  deposited  in  the  Went- 
worth  tomb. 

In  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  was  considered  a  man  of  most 
noble  and  benevolent  disposition,  of  sound  doctrines,  and  a 
good  preacher.  He  married  Governor  Benning  Wentworth 
to  his  servant  girl.  The  story,  as  told  by  Brewster  is,  that 
"  the  Governor  invited  a  dinner  party,  and  with  many  other 
guests,  in  his  cocked  hat,  comes  the  beloved  Rev.  Ar- 


BROWNE.  267 

tliur  Browne.  The  dinner  is  served  up  in  a  style  becom 
ing  the  Governor's  table,  the  wine  is  of  good  quality,  &c. 
In  due  time,  as  previously  arranged,  Martha  Hilton,  the 
Governor's  maid-servant,  '  a  damsel  of  twenty  summers,' 
appears  before  the  company.  The  Governor,  bleached  by 
the  frosts  of  sixty  winters,  rises  :  '  Mr.  Browne,  I  wish  you 
to  marry  me.'  '  To  whom,'  asked  the  Rector,  in  wondering 
surprise.  '  To  this  lady,'  was  the  reply.  The  Hector  stood 
confounded.  The  Governor  became  imperative.  ;  As  the 
Governor  of  yew  HampsliiTe  1  command  you  to  marnj  me."1 
The  ceremony  was  performed,  and  Martha  Hilton  became 
Lady  Wentworth." 

On  the  day  Mr.  Browne  married  Governor  Joltu  \Vent- 
worth  to  Atkinson's  widow,  and  soon  after  he  had  performed 
the  ceremony,  he  fell  over  a  number  of  stone  steps  and  broke 
his  arm. 

He  was  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  His  salary  in  1754  was  <£l>0, 
and  c£lo  additional  for  officiating  at  Kittery.  Until  the  ap 
pointment  of  his  son  as  assistant  missionary,  he  was  the  only 
Episcopal  clergyman  in  New  Hampshire. 

In  honor  of  the  consort  of  George  the  Second,  his  church 
was  called  "  Queen's  Chapel."  Dr.  Franklin  was  one  of  the 
benefactors  and  a  proprietor.  There  was  a  pew  which,  prior 
to  the  Revolution,  was  fitted  up  in  state,  and  known  as  the 
u  Governor's."  It  contained  two  chairs,  which  were  the  gift 
of  the  Queen,  for  the  use  of  the  Governor  and  his  secretary. 
The  decorations  were  taken  down  after  the  war  ;  but  the  pew 
and  the  chairs  remained,  and  were  occupied  by  Washington 
and  Ids  secretary  in  1780,  when  they  attended  service  in  Ports 
mouth. 

Mr.  Browne's  children  were  four  sons  and  five  daughters, 
namely :  Thomas,  who  died  young  ;  Marmaduke,  of  whom 
presently  ;  Arthur,  who,  after  a  long  service  in  the  British 
Army,  sold  his  commission  and  was  Governor  of  Kinsale  ;  and 
Peter,  who  entered  the  army  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  rose 
to  the  rank  of  major.  The  daughters  were  all  married : 


268  BROWNE.  -  BROWN. 

LUCY,  to  Colonel  Smith,  of  the  British  Army  ;  Jane,  to  Samuel 
Livormore,  Chief  Justice  of  New  Hampshire  and  Senator  in 
Congress  from  that  State  ;  Mary,  to  the  Rev.  Win  wood  Ser 
jeant ;  Anne,  to  Captain  George  St.  Loe,  of  the  British  Navy, 
from  whom  she  was  divorced,  and,  the  widow  of  a  second  hus 
band,  a  third  time  to  one  Kelly,  who,  "  of  reckless  character, 
treated  her  with  the  utmost  neglect ;  "  and,  last,  Elizabeth, 
who  was  the  wife  of  the  noted  Major  Robert  Rogers,  and, 
after  his  decease,  of  Captain  John  Roche,  of  Concord,  New 
Hampshire. 

BROWNE,  REV.  MARMADUKE.  Son  of  Arthur.  He  was 
born  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in  1731,  and  graduated  at 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  in  1754.  On  taking  orders,  he  was 
first  employed  as  an  itinerant  missionary  in  New  Hampshire. 
In  1700,  he  became  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Newport,  R.  I., 
and  died  there  in  1771.  His  wife  deceased  in  1767,  and  his 
own  death  was  "  doubtless  hastened  by  the  severity  of  that 
affliction."  His  son  Arthur,  who  was  Doctor  of  Laws,  and 
King's  Professor  of  Greek  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  who 
erected  a  marble  tablet  to  his  memory  on  the  wall  of  Trinity 
Church,  Newport,  in  1795,  and  who  was  a  very  eminent  man, 
died  in  1805. 

BROWNE,  WILLIAM.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Son  of 
Judo-e  William  Browne.  An  officer  in  the  British  Armv, 

O  »/    ~ 

and  at  the  siege  of  Gibraltar.  He  was  in  England  in 
1784. 

BROWN,  THOMAS.  Of  Boston.  Embarked  with  his  family 
of  five  persons  for  Halifax,  in  1776.  Went  into  business,  and 
failed  soon  after  the  year  1779,  and  established  a  school. 
Rev.  Jacob  Bailey  wrote  in  1781 :  "  This  poor  gentleman  is 
still  detained  under  complaint  of  his  unmerciful  creditors.'' 
Mr.  Brown  was  in  Halifax  as  late  as  1792.  I  find  the  death 
of  a  Thomas  Brown,  at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1809,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-six. 

BROWN,  REV.  THOMAS.  Episcopal  minister.  He  came  to 
America  in  the  French  war,  as  supposed,  with  the  27th  Regi 
ment,  of  which  he  was  chaplain,  and  which  he  accompanied 


BROWN.  — BRUCE.  2(39 

on  the  expedition  to  Martinico,  in  1702.  He  returned  to 
England  :  and,  in  1704,  was  appointed  a  missionary  to  Amer 
ica.  He  was  in  charge  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Albany,  tor 
three  or  four  years  ;  and  in  1772,  was  appointed  Hector  of 
Dorchester,  Maryland.  He  died  in  1784,  aged  forty-nine. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Martina  Hogan,  and  \vho 
belonged  to  Albany,  and  seven  children,  survived  him. 

BROWN,  EEISHA.  Of  Northampton,  New  York.  4k  Cow 
boy/'  Killed  by  a  fellow  u  co\v-boy  "  named  Norton,  in  an 
affray,  in  1783. 

BROWN,  DANIEE.  Of  Maine.  Emigrated  in  early  youth 
from  Scotland  to  Castine,  and  in  the  Revolution  took  an  active 
part  in  the  Royal  cause.  At  the  peace  he  removed  to  New 
Brunswick,  where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days.  He 
died  at  St.  Stephen,  March,  1835,  aged  ninety-one,  and  left 
upwards  of  two  hundred  descendants.  His  memory  was  good, 
and  the  events  of  his  life  were  impressed  upon  its  tablets  to 
the  last.  His  daughter  Catharine  died  a  few  days  after  him, 
aged  fifty-five. 

BROAVN,  ZACHARIAH.  Residence  unknown.  A  lieutenant 
in  De  Lancey's  Third  Battalion,  retired  to  New  Brunswick, 
received  halt-pay,  and  died  in  the  county  of  Sunbury,  in  1817, 
aged  seventy-eight. 

BROWN,  HENRY  B.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick.  Was 
Registrar  of  Deeds  and  Wills  for  the  county  of  Charlotte, 
and  died  there. 

BROWNELL,  JOSHUA,  and  JEREMIAH.  Went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace.  The  first  was  a  grantee  of 
that  city  ;  the  other  died  in  Westmoreland  County,  in  that 
Province,  in  1835,  aged  eighty-eight. 

BROTHERS,  JOSEPH.  He  died  at  Carleton,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  183(3,  aged  seventy-two. 

BRUCE,  JAMES.  Of  Boston.  Was  proscribed  and  banished. 
This  gentleman,  1  conclude,  commanded  the  ship  Eleanor; 
and  if  so,  he,  like  Hall,  of  the  Dartmouth,  and  Cofh'n,  of  the 
Beaver,  is  connected  with  the  celebrated  tea  controversy.  The 
Eleanor^  Captain  James  Bruce,  arrived  in  Boston,  December 
23  * 


270  BRUNSKILL.  —  BRUSH. 

1,  1773,  with  a  part  of  the  tea  sent  over  by  the  East  India 
Company,  which,  after  several  days  of  fruitless  negotiation, 
was  thrown  into  the  harbor,  at  Griffin's  Wharf.  There  was 
a  Loyalist  of  this  name  at  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  about  the 
year  1805. 

BRUNSKILL,  REV.  JOHN.  Of  Virginia.  Episcopal  minis 
ter.  About  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  on  an  occasion 
when  his  church  was  full,  two  or  three  Whigs  entered  in  regi 
mentals.  He  rose  and  rebuked  them,  said  they  were  rebels, 
and  that  he  should  immediately  inform  the  King  of  their  mis 
deeds.  Nearly  every  person  left  the  house  ;  some,  as  they 
departed,  warning  him  that  on  a  repetition  of  such  language, 
he  would  be  insulted  and  treated  harshly.  He  never  preached 
again  ;  but  lived  uncomfortable  and  secluded  at  the  glebe  un 
til  his  death.  He  never  married  ;  and  for  years,  "  it  is  be 
lieved,  he  was  a  dead  weight  upon  the  church." 

BRUSH,  CREAX.  Of  Cumberland  County,  "  New  Hamp 
shire  Grants."  Born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  about  the  year  1725, 
and  bred  to  the  law ;  he  emigrated  to  America,  probably  in 
1762.  In  New  York,  he  wras  admitted  to  practice,  and  had 
employment  in  the  office  of  the  Provincial  Secretary.  In 
1771,  he  removed  to  the  "Grants,"  and  was  soon  appointed 
Clerk  and  Surrogate  of  Cumberland  County.  In  the  troubles 
which  existed  on  the  "  Grrants"  as  Vermont  was  then  called, 
he  took  the  side  of  New  York  ;  and,  elected  to  the  Assembly 
of  that  Colony,  he  became  a  man  of  considerable  note  and  in 
fluence.  In  1775,  he  delivered  a  set-speech  against  electing 
delegates  to  the  second  Continental  Congress,  which  the  Whig 
leaders,  Clinton,  Schuyler,  and  Woodhull,  answered.  Trum- 
bull,  in  McFingal,  refers  to  him  thus :  — 

"  Had  I  the  poet's  brazen  lungs, 
As  sound-board  to  his  hundred  tongues, 
I  could  not  half  the  scribblers  muster 
That  swarmed  round  Rivington  in  cluster ; 
Assemblies,  councilmen,  forsooth : 
Brush,  Cooper,  Wilkins,  Chandler,  Booth: 
Yet  all  their  arguments  and  sap'ence 
You  did  not  value  at  three  half-pence." 


BRUSH.  271 

At  Boston,  January,  1770,  lie  proposed  to  Sir  William 
Howe  to  raise  a  body  of  volunteers,  not  less  than  three  hun 
dred,  on  the  same  terms,  as  to  pay  and  gratuity,  as  the  Royal 
Fencible  Americans,  a  corps  just  organized.  The  result  is  to 
be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  on  the  10th  of  March,  he  was 
ordered  by  Sir  William  to  take  possession  of  the  goods  of  cer 
tain  described  persons,  and  put  them  on  board  of  the  ship  Mi 
nerva,  or  the  brigantine  Elizabeth.  Under  this  commission, 
Brush,  at  the  head  of  parties  of  Tories,  broke  open  stores 
and  dwelling-houses,  stripped  them,  and  conveyed  his  plun 
der  to  the  ships.  Lawless  bands  of  men  from  the  fleet  and 
army,  followed  his  example  ;  and  Boston,  for  the  last  few  days 
of  the  siege,  was  given  to  violence  and  pillage.  As  for  Brush, 
he  was  captured  after  the  evacuation,  on  board  of  the  brigan 
tine  above  mentioned. 

The  property  on  board  the  Elizabeth  was  worth  quite  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  difficulties  arose  between  the  claim 
ants  and  the  captors,  which  were  expensive  and  vexatious,  but 
which  I  have  no  room  to  relate.  The  robber,  Brush,  wras 
rightly  enough  put  in  close  jail  in  Boston,  and  denied  privi 
leges,  which,  to  an  educated  man,  are  invaluable  ;  but  he 
endeavored  to  lesson  his  woes  by  intemperance.  Early  in 
1777  he  was  joined  by  his  wife.  The  term  of  his  imprison 
ment  was  more  than  nineteen  months.  Later  in  the  autumn 
of  the  year  last  mentioned,  Mrs.  Brush  provided  him  with 
money  and  a  horse,  preparatory  to  his  escape  ;  and  on  the 
night  of  the  5th  of  November,  he  passed  the  turnkey,  dis 
guised  in  her  garments,  and  fled  to  New  York.  We  hear 
of  the  miscreant  next  in  Vermont,  where  he  went  to  look 
after  his  lands.  But  his  career  was  nearly  at  an  end.  The 
Whigs  sequestered  his  estate  ;  and  the  British  Commander- 
in-Chief,  to  whom  he  applied  to  redress  his  personal  wrongs 
and  compensate  his  losses,  not  only  refused,  but  told  him  that 
his  "conduct  merited  them,  and  more."  His  cup  was  full. 
"  Goaded  by  the  scorpion  whip  of  remorse,  too  proud  to 
strive  to  redeem  the  errors  of  his  past  life  by  an  honorable 
future,"  in  May,  1778,  he  put  a  pistol  to  his  head,  and  was 


272  BRYAN. 

found  dead,  "  his  brains  besmearing  the  walls  of  the  apart 
ment."  Such,  rapidly  traced,  was  the  life  of  Crean  Brush. 
He  was  ambitious  to  be  a  man  of  consideration,  to  be  pro 
prietor  of  a  vast  domain.  He  became  an  outcast ;  and,  of 
nearly  fifty  thousand  acres  of  the  soil  of  New  York,  and  the 
"  New  Hampshire  Grants,''  which  he  owned,  his  heirs  recovered 
possession  of  a  small  part  only.  His  step-daughter,  Frances, 
was  wife  of  no  less  a  character  than  Ethan  Allen.  She  Avas 
a  widow,  dashing,  and  imperious ;  and  though  fascinating 
and  accomplished,  sometimes  spoke  in  tones  as  rough  and 
unseemly  as  the  summoner  of  Ticonderoga  himself.  His 
only  child,  Elizabeth  Martha,  married  Thomas  Norman,  of 
Ireland.  Of  her  it  is  said  that  she  was  a  lady  of  refined 
manners,  of  dignified  deportment,  and  in  every  other  re 
spect  an  ornament  to  her  sex. 

BRYAN,  SAMUEL.  Of  North  Carolina.  Authorized  by 
Governor  Martin,  January,  1776,  to  erect  the  King's  stand 
ard,  to  enlist  and  array  in  arms  the  loyal  subjects  of  Rowan 
County,  and  "  to  oppose  all  rebels  and  traitors."  In  1780, 
with  a  corps  of  eight  hundred  Loyalists,  who  abandoned  their 
homes  to  avoid  prison  and  death,  after  Moore's  defeat  by 
Rutherford,  he  marched  towards  South  Carolina,  and  ar 
rived  unmolested  at  Cheraw  Hill,  where  he  joined  the  de 
tachment  of  British  under  McArthur.  Many  had  not  seen 
their  families  for  months,  but  had  lived  in  the  woods  to  avoid 
the  parties  of  Whigs  that  were  in  constant  pursuit  at  this 
period.  Three  of  his  companies  were  nearly  annihilated  by 
the  Whig  Major  Davie,  near  Hanging  Rock.  Soon  after 
ward,  Sumter  fell  upon  the  remainder  of  his  troops,  and  put 
them  to  flight ;  they  "  dispersed  as  soon  as  pressed."  But, 
reassembled,  Bryan's  corps  was  in  the  rear  division  under  the 
orders  of  Lord  Rawdon,  at  the  battle  of  Camden.  The  estate 
of  Colonel  Bryan  was  confiscated  in  1779.  The  excitement 
against  him  was  intense.  Our  Loyalist  was  indeed  an  un 
fortunate  man,  since  it  seems  that  his  conduct  gave  serious 
offence  to  his  own  party,  as  well  as  to  the  Whigs.  In  a 
letter  to  Sir  James  Wright,  dated  in  London,  March,  1783, 


BRYMEIl.  —  BULL.  273 

Lord  Cornwallis  states,  that  "  the  premature  rising  at  Rams- 
our's,  Colonel  Bryan's  junction  with  us  in  South  Carolina, 
both  directly  contrary  to  my  recommendation,"  with  the  de 
feat  of  Ferguson  on  King's  Mountain,  "  occasioned  the  ruin 
of  many  families,  and  furnished  pretexts  to  exercise  cruelties 
on  individuals,  to  a  degree  neither  believed  nor  conceived 
in  "  Eno-land. 

O 

BRYMER,  ALEXANDER.  Merchant  of  Boston.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Gage  in  1775.  Was  proscribed  and  banished  in 
1778.  In  1782  a  gentleman  of  this  name,  and  supposed  to 
be  the  same,  was  sworn  in  as  a  member  of  his  Majesty's 
Council  of  Nova  Scotia.  The  Councillor  died  at  Rarnsgate, 
England,  in  1822,  aged  seventy-five. 

BUCHANAN,  JOHN.  Of  Maryland.  Went  to  England, 
and  established  himself  as  a  merchant  in  London.  His  widow 
died  at  Bromley,  Kent,  in  1784. 

BUDD,  ELISIIA.  Of  New  York.  Ensign  in  the  King's 
American  Regiment.  Pie  was  born  at  White  Plains,  and 
settled  in  Rye.  His  father,  James  Budd,  was  shot  at  his 
own  door  by  a  party  of  "  cow-boys."  He  was  at  the  siege 
of  Savannah,  and  in  several  engagements  at  the  South.  His 
property  was  confiscated  ;  and  at  the  peace  he  went  to  Digby, 
Nova  Scotia,  where  he  became  a  merchant  and  a  Justice  of 
the  Common  Pleas.  He  died  at  Liverpool,  England,  in  1813, 
aged  fifty-one.  His  widow,  a  daughter  of  Isaac  Bonnell,  died 
in  1850,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  leaving  five  children,  of 
whom  three  now  (1861)  reside  at  Digby. 

BULL,  WILLIAM.  Lieutenant-Governor  of  South  Carolina. 
His  father,  who  died  in  1755,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two,  had 
the  same  Christian  name,  and  held  the  same  office.  He  was 
a  pupil  of  Boerhaave.  Returning  to  this  country,  after  com 
pleting  his  studies,  he  rose  to  distinction  in  literature,  medical 
science,  and  politics.  In  1751  he  was  a  member  of  the  Coun 
cil ;  in  1763  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates;  and -in 
1764  Lieutenant-Governor.  In  the  last  office  he  continued 
many  years,  and  was  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Colony. 
He  accompanied  the  British  troops  to  England  in  1782,  and. 


274  BULL.  —  BULYE  A. 

continuing  there,  died  in  London,  July  4,  1701,  aged  eighty- 
one. 

BULL,  GEORGE.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  of  cavalry  in  the  American 
Legion  under  Arnold.  He  retired  on  half-pay  at  the  peace, 
and  settled  in  Xew  Brunswick.  He  died  at  Woodstock,  in 
1838,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 

BULL,  CAPTAIN  -  — .  Of  New  York.  He  was  in  the 
service  of  the  Crown,  and  his  name  appears  in  the  interview 
between  the  celebrated  Mohawk,  Brant,  and  the  Whig  Gen 
eral  Herkimer,  at  Unadilla,  Xew  York,  in  1777.  When  the 
Indian  chief  met  the  Whig,  he  was  accompanied  by  Bull,  a 
son  of  Sir  William  Johnson  by  Brandt's  sister,  Mary,  or  Molly, 
and  about  forty  warriors.  During  the  meeting,  Herkimer 
demanded  the  surrender  of  several  Tories,  which  Brant  per 
emptorily  refused.  This  was  the  last  conference  held  with 
the  hostile  Mohawks. 

BULLMAN,  REV.  Joiix.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
Episcopal  minister.  In  1774  he  preached  a  sermon  which 
gave  great  offence.  I  extract  a  single  passage  :  u  Every  idle 
projector  who  cannot,  perhaps,  govern  his  own  household,  or 
pay  the  debts  of  his  own  contracting,  presumes  he  is  qualified 
to  dictate  how  the  State  should  be  governed,  and  to  point  out 
the  means  of  paying  the  debts  of  a  nation."  Again  :  "  Every 
silly  clown  and  illiterate  mechanic  will  take  upon  him  to 
censure  the  conduct  of  his  Prince  or  Governor,  and  contri 
bute,  as  much  as  in  him  lies,  to  create  and  foment  those  mis- 
understandino-s  .  .  which  come  at  last  to  ....  sedition 

<3 

and  rebellion,"  &c. 

A  meeting  of  his  parishioners  was  called,  when  it  was  found 
that,  exclusive  of  the  vestry  and  church-wardens,  forty-two 
disapproved,  and  thirty-three  approved,  of  his  conduct  in  the 
pulpit.  Attempts  at  reconciliation  followed,  but  without  suc 
cess  ;  and  in  March,  1775,  Mr.  Bullman  sailed  for  England. 

BULYEA,  JOHN,  and  ABRAHAM.  The  first,  in  179-"),  was 
a  member  of  the  Loyal  Artillery  of  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick.  Sarah,  his  widow,  died  in  King's  County,  in  that 


BUNIIILL.  —  BURNET.  275 

Province,  in  1843,  aged  ninety-nine,  leaving  six  children, 
fifty-five  grandchildren,  and  fifty-seven  great-grandchildren. 

t,  £">  •/  O  o 

Abraham    settled  in  New  Brunswick  in    1783,  and  died  in 

King's  County  in   that  Colony,  in   1833,  aged  seventy-seven. 

BUNIIILL,  SOLOMON.    Of  Lanesborough,  Massachusetts.    In 

the  battle  of  Bennington  he  shot  two  of  his  neighbors  through 

O  ^5  O 

the  head,  as  was  alleged,  and  was  sent  to  Northampton  jail. 
An  agent  was  appointed  to  procure  the  evidence  against  him, 
and  to  attend  his  trial.  His  property  was  confiscated,  and  in 
1784  advertised  for  sale  by  a  Committee  of  the  Common 
wealth. 

BUNTING,  ROLAND.  He  died  at  Loch  Lomond,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1839,  at  the  great  age  of  one  hundred  years. 

BURCII,  WILLIAM.  Commissioner  of  the  Customs,  Boston. 
Was  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778,  and  included  in  the 
Conspiracy  Act  of  1779.  He  went  to  England,  where,  I  con 
clude,  he  took  no  part  in  affairs.  Charles  Paxton,  one  of  his 
fellow-commissioners,  died  at  his  seat ;  and  this  is  the  only 
instance  that  I  find  his  name  so  much  as  mentioned. 

BURNET,  JOHN.  Of  Georgia.  To  cover  his  dark  deeds, 
he  pretended  to  be  a  Whig.  When,  in  1781,  Browne  surren 
dered  Augusta,  the  goods  and  stores  which  were  found  in  Fort 
Cornwallis,  and  which  were  allotted  to  the  Georgia  troops, 
were  placed  in  his  possession  for  safe  keeping  until  a  division 
coidd  be  safely  made  of  them.  His  party  had  previously  se 
creted  about  sixty  negroes,  who,  he  averred,  had  been  taken 
from  the  enemy,  and  who  he  promised  to  add  to  the  other 
property  at  the  time  of  distribution.  The  officers,  not  sus 
pecting  him,  were  duped.  He  proceeded  towards  the  moun 
tains  on  pretence  of  seeking  a  place  of  safety,  passed  through 
Kentucky  to  the  Ohio  River,  procured  boats  and  descended 
to  Natchez,  where  he  and  his  companions  appropriated  the 
fruits  of  their  knavery. 

BUKNET,  MATHIAS.  Of  Jamaica,  New  York.  He  was 
born  in  New  Jersey,  and  graduated  at  Princeton  College  in 
1769.  He  was  settled  at  Jamaica  in  1775,  and  continued 
with  his  people  during  the  war.  After  the  peace,  and  in 


276  BURNS.— BURTON. 

1785,  lie  was  compelled,  by  the  force  of  party  spirit,  to  dis 
solve  the  connection.  It  is  said  that  he  was  the  only  Presby 
terian  minister  of  Queen's  County  who  was  reputed  to  be  a 
friend  to  Government.  His  wife  was  an  Episcopalian,  and, 
removing  to  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  he  took  charge  of  a  church 
of  that  communion.  He  died  at  Norwalk  in  1806. 

BURNS,  WILLIAM  and  MICHAEL.  Of  Connecticut.  Broth 
ers.  The  first  was  a  forage-master  in  the  Royal  Army,  who 
settled  on  Digby  Neck,  Nova  Scotia,  at  the  peace,  and  died 
in  1797.  Michael  settled  at  the  same  place,  and  died  in  1817. 
Phebe,  daughter  of  William,  married  Edmund  Fanning,  and 
has  two  daughters  now  (1861)  living  in  England. 

BURRIS,  SAMUEL.  A  Whig  soldier.  In  1778  lie  was  tried 
on  a  charge  of  attempting  to  desert  to  the  Royal  side.  He 
confessed  his  guilt,  and  was  sentenced  to  receive  one  hundred 
lashes. 

BURTIS,  WILLIAM.  Of  West  Chester  County,  New  York. 
In  1779  he  was  sent  prisoner  from  White  Plains  by  Burr, 
who  wrote  Malcolm  that  Burtis  wished  to  secure  the  favor  of 
the  Whigs  by  giving  them  information.  In  1780  he  was  con 
fined  at  West  Point,  under  sentence  of  death,  for  communica 
tion  with  the  British  General  Mathews.  At  the  peace  he 
went  to  New  Brunswick,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1885, 
aged  seventy-five. 

BURTON,  NAPIER  CHRISTIE.  General  in  the  British  Army. 
"  An  American  by  birth,"  who  entered  the  military  service  in 
August,  1775,  as  an  ensign.  He  was  in  several  actions  in 
New  Jersey,  and  accompanied  his  regiment  to  Virginia,  and 
to  South  Carolina.  He  was  engaged  in  the  affairs  of  the  Ca- 

O     O 

tawba  and  Yadkin,  in  the  battles  of  Guilford  and  Cross 
Creek,  and  was  taken  prisoner  in  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  In 
1789  he  attained  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  subse 
quently  served  in  Flanders.  In  1799  he  was  appointed  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  of  Upper  Canada.  His  commission  of  Lieu- 
tenant-General,  bears  date  January  1,  1805,  and  of  General, 
June  4,  1814.  From  1796  to  1806,  he  was  a  member  of 
Parliament  for  Beverley.  For  several  years  previous  to  his 


BURWELL.  —  BUSKIRK.  277 

decease,  lie  was  an  invalid.     He  died  in  England,  in  January, 
1835,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year. 

BURWELL,  JAMES.  Of  New  Jersey.  Born  at  Rockaway, 
January  18,  1754.  His  father,  Samuel  Burwell,  was  eldest 
son  of  John  Burwell,  who  removed  from  Jamestown,  Vir 
ginia,  in  the  year  1721,  a  relative  of  the  extensive  family  of 
Burwells,  in  this  country,  formerly  from  Bedford  and  North 
ampton,  England,  the  first  of  whom  was  buried  at  York  River, 
Gloucester  County,  1052.  One  of  his  ancestors  was  of  the 
Virginia  deputation  in  the  year  1646,  to  invite  the  fallen  mon 
arch,  Charles  the  First,  to  come  to  America  for  protection 
against  the  rebellious  Puritan  subjects.  Our  Loyalist  enlisted 
in  his  Majesty's  service  in  the  year  1776,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  and  served  seven  years,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of 
Yorktown,  when  Lord  Cornwallis  surrendered,  and  was  there 
slightly  wounded.  After  the  war  he  moved  to  Nova  Scotia, 
where  he  remained  four  years  ;  he  then  returned  to  New  Jer 
sey,  to  take  care  of  his  aged  mother ;  married,  and  removed 
to  Pennsylvania,  and  from  thence  came  to  Upper  Canada  in 
the  year  1796,  too  late  to  obtain  the  king's  bounty  of  family 
land,  but  was  placed  on  the  Upper  Canada  list,  and  received 
two  hundred  acres  for  himself  and  each  of  his  children.  He 
removed  to  the  Talbot  settlement  in  the  year  1810.  He 
died  in  the  county  of  Elgin,  Canada,  July,  1853,  aged  ninety- 
nine  years  and  five  months. 

BUSKIRK,  —  — .  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  a  Loyalist  corps. 
In  1777,  he  attempted  to  cut  off  a  party  of  Whig  militia  sta 
tioned  at  Paramus  ;  but  the  commander  had  notice  of  the  de 
sign,  and  escaped  by  moving  to  another  post.  In  1779,  with 
a  considerable  part  of  the  garrison  of  Powle's  Hook,  and  some 
other  troops,  he  proceeded  up  the  North  River  for  the  purpose 
of  falling  in  with  a  detachment  of  Whigs,  supposed  to  be  out 
foraging  upon  the  Tories.  He  met  a  larger  force  than  he 
expected,  and  retreated.  The  illustrious  John  Marshall  states 
the  facts  in  detail,  from  his  personal  observation. 

In  1780,  with  one  hundred  dragoons  and  upwards  of  three 
hundred  infantry,  he  crossed  from  Staten  Island  to  Elizabeth- 

VOL,.  I.  24 


278  BUSKIRK.  —  BUTLER. 

town,  at  midnight,  took  several  prisoners,  burnt  the  church 
and  town-house,  plundered  some  of  the  inhabitants,  and  re 
tired  without  loss.  He  was  with  Arnold  in  the  expedition  to 
New  London,  and  in  command  of  a  regiment  or  battalion. 

BUSKIRK, .  Son  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Buskirk, 

and  lieutenant  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers,  or,  "  Skinner's 
Greens."  In  the  attack  by  General  Dickinson,  November, 
1777,  he  was  made  prisoner.  I  suppose  the  Captain  Buskirk 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  1781,  was  the  same. 

BUSKIRK,  HEXRY.  Of  New  York.  He  removed  to  Nova 
Scotia  in  1783,  and  was  many  years  a  magistrate  of  King's 
County.  He  died  at  Aylesford,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1841. 

BUSTIN,  THOMAS.  Of  Virginia.  He  joined  the  Royal  Ar 
my  at  New  York  after  the  commencement  of  hostilities  ;  and 
at  the  peace  removed  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  where  he 
lived  until  his  decease,  at  the  age  of  ninety.  Seven  children 
survived  him.  Mary,  his  widow,  died  in  the  same  city,  in 
1848,  at  the  age  of  ninety-two. 

BUTLER,  JOHN.  Of  Try  on,  now  Montgomery,  County, 
New  York.  Before  the  war,  Colonel  Butler  was  in  close 
official  connection  with  Sir  William,  Sir  John,  and  Colonel 
Guy  Johnson,  and  followed  their  political  fortunes.  At  the 
breaking  out  of  hostilities,  he  commanded  a  regiment  of  New 
York  militia,  and  entered  at  once  into  the  military  service  of 
the  Crown.  During  the  war  his  wife  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
exchanged  for  the  wife  of  the  Whig  Colonel  Campbell.  The 
deeds  of  rapine,  of  murder,  of  hellish  hue,  which  were  per 
petrated  by  Butler's  corps,  cannot  be  related  here.  It  is 
sufficient,  for  the  purpose  of  these  Notes,  to  say,  that  he 
commanded  the  sixteen  hundred  incarnate  fiends  who  deso 
lated  Wyoming.  I  feel  quite  willing  to  allow,  that  history 
has  recorded  barbarities  which  were  not  committed.  But 
though  Butler  did  not  permit  or  directly  authorize  women  to 
be  driven  into  the  forest,  where  they  became  mothers,  and 
where  their  infants  were  eaten  by  wild  beasts,  and  though  cap 
tive  officers  may  not  have  been  held  upon  fires  with  pitch 
forks  until  they  were  burned  to  death,  sufficient  remains 


BUTLER.  279 

undoubted,  to  stamp  his  conduct  with  the  deepest,  darkest, 
most  damning  guilt.  The  human  mind  can  hardly  frame  an 
argument  which  shall  clear  the  fame  of  Butler  from  obloquy 
and  reproach.  To  admit  even  as  a  solved  question,  that  the 
Loyalists  were  in  the  right,  and  that  they  were  bound  by  the 
clearest  rules  of  duty  to  bear  arms  in  defence  of  lawful  and 
existing  institutions,  and  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  will  do 
Butler  no  good.  For,  whatever  the  force  of  such  a  plea  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  urge  it,  lie  was  still  bound  to  observe 
the  laws  of  civilized  warfare. 

That  he,  and  he  alone,  will  be  regarded  by  posterity  as  the 
real  and  responsible  actor  in  the  business  and  slaughter  at 
Wyoming,  may  be  considered,  perhaps,  as  certain.  The 
chieftain  Brant  was,  for  a  time,  held  accountable,  but  the 
better  information  of  later  years  transfers  the  guilt  from  the 
savage  to  the  man  of  Saxon  blood.  There  was  nothing  for 
which  the  Mohawk's  family  labored  more  earnestly  than  to 
show  that  their  renowned  head  was  not  implicated  in  this 
bloody  tragedy,  and  that  the  accounts  of  historians,  and  the 
enormities  recounted  in  Campbell's  verse,  as  far  as  they  relate 
to  him,  are  untrue.  It  has  been  said  very  commonly,  that 
the  Colonel  Butler  who  was  of  the  Whig  force  at  Wyoming, 
and  Colonel  John,  were  kinsmen  ;  but  this,  too,  has  been  con 
tradicted.  The  late  Edward  D.  Griffin,  —  a  youth,  a  writer, 
and  a  poet  of  rare  promise,  —  and  a  grandson  of  the  former, 
denied  the  relationship. 

Colonel  John  Butler  was  richly  rewarded  for  his  services. 
Succeeding,  in  part,  to  the  agency  of  Indian  Affairs  —  long 
held  by  the  Johnsons  —  he  enjoyed,  about  the  year  1796,  a 
salary  of  £500  sterling  per  annum,  and  a  pension  as  a  military 
officer  of  £200  more.  Previously,  he  had  received  a  grant  of 
five  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  a  similar  provision  for  his  chil 
dren.  His  home,  after  the  war,  was  in  Upper  Canada.  He 
was  attainted  during  the  contest,  by  the  Act  of  New  York, 
and  his  property  confiscated.  He  lived  before  the  Revolution 
in  the  present  town  of  Mohawk.  His  dwelling  was  of  one 
story,  with  two  windows  in  front,  and  a  door  in  the  centre. 


280  BUTLER. 

It  was  standing  in  1842,  and  was  then  owned  and  occupied 
bv  Mr.  Wilson.  The  site  is  pleasant  and  commanding,  and 
overlooks  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk. 

BUTLER,  WALTER  N.  Son  of  Colonel  John  Butler.  En 
tered  the  British  service,  and  became  a  major.  His  name  is 
connected  with  some  of  the  most  infamous  transactions  of  the 
Revolution.  While  a  lieutenant  under  St.  Leger,  he  was 
taken  prisoner  at  the  house  of  a  Loyalist  who  lived  near 
Fort  Dayton,  and  was  put  upon  his  trial  as  a  spy,  convicted, 
and  received  sentence  of  death.  But  at  the  intercession  of 
several  American  officers  who  had  known  him  while  a  student 
at  law  in  Albany,  his  life  was  spared  by  a  reprieve.  The 
friends  of  the  Butler  family,  in  consequence  of  his  alleged  ill 
health,  induced  his  removal  from  rigorous  confinement  to  a 
private  house  under  guard,  and  he  soon  escaped,  and  joined 
his  father.  It  is  believed  that  he  took  mortal  offence  at  his 
treatment  while  a  prisoner  of  the  Whigs,  and  that  he  rccn- 
tered  the  service  of  the  Crown,  burning  with  resentment  and 
thirsting  for  revenge.  His  subsequent  career  was  short,  bold, 
cruel,  and  bloody.  He  wras  killed  in  battle  in  1781,  and  his 
remains  were  left  to  decay  without  even  the  rudest  rites  of 
sepulture.  It  is  represented  that  his  disposition  was  so  vin 
dictive  and  his  passions  so  strong,  that  British  officers  of  rank 
and  humanity  viewed  him  with  horror.  The  late  Doctor 
D wight  —  a  careful  writer  —  relates,  that  at  Cherry  Valley 
he  ordered  a  woman  and  child  to  be  slain  in  bed,  and  that 
the  more  merciful  Brant  interposed  and  said  :  "  What !  kill 
a  woman  and  child  !  No  !  That  child  is  not  an  enemy  to 
the  Kino;,  nor  a  friend  to  the  COUOTCSS.  Long  before  he  will 

O7  •  £5  O 

be  big  enough  to  do  any  mischief,  the  dispute  will  be  settled." 
BUTLER,   JAMES.      Of  Georgia.     Went  to    England,   and 
died    there    in   1817,   aged    seventy-nine.      "  An    American 
Loyalist,"  says    the   record. 

BUTLER,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Norwich,  Connecticut.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  respectability  and  talents,  and  continued 
loyal  throughout  the  contest.  Arrested  and  imprisoned,  in 
1776,  for  defaming  the  Continental  Congress,  he  was  tried 


BUTLER.  -  BYLES.  28  L 

by  the  Superior  Court,  and  sentenced  to  be  deprived  of  the 
liberty  of  wearing  arms,  and  of  being  incapable  of  holding 
office.  He  died  of  a  lingering  disease  in  1787.  While  in 
health,  he  selected  a  small  tree  to  be  used  at  his  decease  to 
enclose  his  remains  ;  but  the  sapling  grew  slowly,  and  his 
coffin  was  constructed  of  other  wood,  and  kept  in  his  chamber 
for  years,  to  remind  him  of  his  end.  The  expressive  motto 
on  his  gravestone  —  "ALAS,  POOR  HUMAN  NATURE!"  — 
was  placed  there  by  his  own  direction.  "  His  wife,  Diadema, 
and  his  daughters,  Rosamond  and  Minerva,  repose  by  his  side  " 
in  the  Norwich  burial-ground.  The  survivors  of  his  family 
removed  to  Oxford,  New  York.  The  wife  of  Commodore 
John  Rogers,  United  States  Navy,  was  a  granddaughter. 

BUTLER,  JOSIAH.  He  died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1812,  aged  fifty. 

BUTLER,  CAPTAIN .     He  was  a  Tory  leader,  whose 

crimes  and  ferocity  were  well  known  in  the  region  of  the 
Pedee.  During  a  period  of  Whig  ascendency  in  that  part  of 
South  Carolina,  he  went  into  General  Marion's  camp  at  Birch's 
Mills,  and  submitting  himself,  claimed  the  protection  which 
the  Whig  officer  had  granted  to  some  other  Loyalists  who  had 
preceded  him.  Against  this  some  of  Marion's  officers,  whose 
friends  had  suffered  at  Butler's  hands,  protested.  But  Ma 
rion  took  the  humbled  Butler  to  his  own  tent,  and  declared 
that  he  would  protect  him  at  the  hazard  of  his  own  life.  The 
officers,  still  determined  to  gratify  their  hate,  sent  their  com 
mander  an  offensive  message,  to  the  effect  that  "  Butler  should 
be  dragged  to  death  from  his  tent,"  and  that,  "  to  defend  such 
a  wretch  was  an  insult  to  humanity."  Marion  was  not  to  be 
intimidated ;  and  though  the  meeting  among  his  followers 
threatened  to  be  formidable,  he  succeeded  in  conveying  Butler 
under  a  strong  guard  to  a  place  of  safety. 

BUTLER,  ELEAZER.  Of  Pennsylvania.  On  the  Royal  side 
in  the  slaughter  at  Wyoming.  Went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  is 
now  (1854)  living  at  Yarmouth. 

BYLES,   MATHER,  D.  D.      Of  Boston.     He   was  born  in 
Boston  in  1706,  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1725, 
24* 


282  BYLES. 

and  was  ordained  the  first  pastor  of  the  Hollis  Street  Church 
in  1733.  On  his  mother's  side,  he  was  descended  from  Rich 
ard  Mather  and  John  Cotton.  He  continued  to  live  happily 
with  his  parish  until  1776,  when  the  connection  was  dissolved, 
and  never  renewed.  In  1777  he  was  denounced  in  town-meet 
ing,  and  having  been  by  a  subsequent  trial  pronounced  guilty 
of  attachment  to  the  Royal  cause,  was  sentenced  to  confine 
ment,  and  to  be  sent  with  his  family  to  England.  This  doom 
of  banishment  was  never  enforced,  and  he  was  permitted  to 
remain  in  Boston.  He  died  in  1788,  aged  eighty-two  years. 
He  was  a  scholar  ;  and  Pope,  Lansdowne,  and  Watts  were 
his  correspondents.  His  witticisms  would  fill  many  pages  ; 
some  of  his  finest  sayings  having  been  preserved.  In  his 
pulpit  he  avoided  politics,  and  on  being  asked  the  reason, 
replied :  u  I  have  thrown  up  four  breastworks,  behind  which 
I  have  entrenched  myself,  neither  of  which  can  be  enforced. 
In  the  first  place,  I  do  not  understand  politics ;  in  the  second 
place,  you  all  do,  every  man  and  mother's  son  of  you  ;  in  the 
third  place,  you  have  politics  all  the  week,  pray  let  one  day 
in  seven  be  devoted  to  religion  ;  in  the  fourth  place,  I  am 
engaged  in  work  of  infinitely  greater  importance  ;  give  me 
any  subject  to  preach  on  of  more  consequence  than  the  truth 
I  bring  to  you,  and  I  will  preach  on  it  the  next  Sabbath." 
On  another  occasion,  when  under  sentence  of  the  Whigs  to 
remain  in  his  own  house,  under  guard,  he  persuaded  the  sen 
tinel  to  go  on  an  errand  for  him,  promising  to  perform  senti 
nel's  duty  himself;  and  to  the  great  amusement  of  all  gravely 
inarched  before  his  own  door  with  a  musket  on  his  shoulder, 
until  his  keeper  returned.  This  was  after  his  trial ;  and  allud 
ing  to  the  circumstances  that  he  had  been  kept  prisoner,  that 
his  guard  had  been  removed,  and  replaced  again,  he  said, 
that  "he  had  been  guarded,  re-guarded,  and  disregarded." 
Near  his  house,  in  wet  weather,  was  a  very  bad  slough. 
It  happened  that  two  of  the  selectmen  who  had  the  care 
of  the  streets,  driving  in  a  chaise,  stuck  fast  in  this  hole, 
and  were  obliged  to  get  out  in  the  mud  to  extricate  their 
vehicle.  Doctor  Byles  came  out,  and  making  them  a  re- 


BTLES.  283 

spectful  bow,  said:  "Gentlemen,  I  have  often  complained  to 
you  of  this  nuisance,  without  any  attention  being  paid  to  it, 
and  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you  stirring  in  this  matter  now." 
On  the  celebrated  Dark-day  in  1780,  a  lady  who  lived  near 
the  Doctor,  sent  her  young  son  with  her  compliments,  to 
know  if  he  could  account  for  the  uncommon  appearance. 
His  answer  was  :  "  My  dear,  you  will  give  my  compliments 
to  your  mamma,  and  tell  her  that  I  am  as  much  in  the  dark 
as  she  is."  He  paid  his  addresses  unsuccessfully  to  a  lady, 
who  afterwards  married  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Quincy ; 
the  Doctor,  on  meeting  her,  said  :  "  So,  madam,  it  appears  that 
you  prefer  a  Quincy  to  Byles."  "  Yes,  for  if  there  had  been 
anything  worse  than  biles,  God  would  have  afflicted  Job  with 
them." 

Doctor  Byles's  wit  created  many  a  laugh,  and  many  an 
enemy.  In  person  he  was  tall  and  commanding.  His  voice 
was  strong  and  harmonious,  and  his  delivery  graceful.  His 
first  wife  wras  a  niece  of  Governor  Belcher,  the  second,  a 
daughter  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Tailer.  His  two  daughters 
lived  and  died  in  the  old  family  house  at  the  corner  of  Nassau 
and  Tremont  streets.  One  of  them  deceased  in  1835,  the 
other  in  1837.  They  were  stout,  unchanging  Loyalists  to 
the  last  hour  of  their  existence.  Their  thread  of  life  was 
spun  out  more  than  half  a  century  after  the  Royal  govern 
ment  had  ceased  in  these  States ;  yet  they  retained  their  love 
of,  and  strict  adherence  to,  monarch  and  monarchies,  and  re 
fused  to  acknowledge  that  the  Revolution  had  transferred 
their  allegiance  to  new  rulers.  They  were  repeatedly  of 
fered  a  great  price  for  their  dwelling,  but  would  not  sell  it, 
nor  would  they  permit  improvements  or  alterations.  They 
possessed  old-fashioned  silver  plate,  which  they  never  used, 
and  would  not  dispose  of.  They  worshipped  in  Trinity 
Church — under  which  their  bodies  now  lie  —  and  wore  on 
Sunday  dresses  almost  as  old  as  themselves.  Among  their 

v  O 

furniture  was  a  pair  of  bellows  two  centuries  old  ;  a  table  on 
which  Franklin  drank  tea  on  his  last  visit  to  Boston ;  a  chair 
which  more  than  a  hundred  years  before  the  Government  of 


284  BYLES. 

England  hacT  sent  as  a  present  to  their  grandfather,  Lieuten 
ant-Governor  Tailer.  They  showed  to  visitors  commissions 
to  their  grandfather,  signed  by  Queen  Anne,  and  three  of  the 
Georges  ;  and  the  envelope  of  a  letter  from  Pope  to  their 
father.  They  had  moss,  gathered  from  the  birthplace  of  the 
unfortunate  Lady  Jane  Grey.  They  talked  of  their  walks, 
arm-in-arm,  on  Boston  Common,  with  General  Howe  and 
Lord  Percy,  while  the  British  Army  occupied  Boston.  They 
told  of  his  Lordship's  ordering  his  band  to  play  under  their 
windows  for  their  gratification. 

In  the  progress  of  the  improvements  in  Boston,  a  part  of 
their  dwelling  was  removed.  This  had  a  fatal  influence  upon 
the  elder  sister ;  she  mourned  over  the  sacrilege,  and,  it  is 
thought,  died  its  victim.  "  That,"  said  the  survivor,  "  that 
is  one  of  the  consequences  of  living  in  a  Republic.  Had  we 
been  living  under  a  king,  he  would  have  cared  nothing  about 
our  little  property,  and  we  could  have  enjoyed  it  in  our  own 
way  as  long  as  we  lived.  But,"  continued  she,  "  there  is  one 
comfort,  that  not  a  creature  in  the  States  will  be  any  better 
for  what  we  shall  leave  behind  us."  She  was  true  to  her 
promise,  for  the  Byles's  estate  passed  to  relatives  in  the  Colo 
nies.  One  of  these  ladies,  of  a  by-gone  age,  wrote  to  William 
the  Fourth,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne.  They  had  known 
the  "  sailor-king "  during  the  Revolution,  and  now  assured 
him  that  the  family  of  Doctor  Byles  always  had  been,  and 
would  continue  to  be,  loyal  to  their  rightful  sovereign  of 
England. 

BYLES,  MATHER,  JR.,  D.  D.  Of  Boston.  An  Episcopal 
clergyman.  Son  of  Mather  Byles,  D.  D.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1751.  In  1757,  at  about  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  he  was  ordained  at  New  London  ;  his  father 
preached  the  sermon.  Eleven  years  after,  his  ministry  came 
to  an  abrupt  termination.  Without  previous  intimation,  he 
called  a  meeting  of  his  church,  and  requested  dismission,  that 
he  might  accept  an  invitation  to  become  Rector  of  the  North 
Episcopal,  or  Christ  Church,  Salem  street,  Boston. 

Among  the  reasons  he  gave  in  the  course  of  the  discussions 


BYLKS.  —  BYRNE.  285 

that  ensued,  were,  that  "  another  minister  would  do  much 
better  for  them  than  lie  had  done  or  could  do,  for  his  health 
was  infirm,  and  the  position  of  the  church  very  bleak,  the 
hill  wearisome,  ....  he  was  not  made  for  a  country  minis 
ter,  and  his  home  and  friends  were  all  in  Boston,"  £c.,  &c. 
He  also  complained  bitterly  of  the  persecutions  he  had  suf 
fered  from  the  Quakers,  and  the  negligence  of  the  authorities 
in  executing  the  laws  against  them. 

The  debate  was  long  and  warm,  and  produced  total  aliena 
tion.  April  12,  1768,  the  record  is,  "  The  Rev.  Mr.  Byles 
dismissed  himself  from  the  church  and  congregation."  He 
hastened  to  depart  with  the  rapidity  of  a  criminal  escaping 
for  crime.  His  change  to  Episcopacy  was  soon  a  matter  of 
discussion  all  over  New  England.  In  New  London  his  con 
version  was  ridiculed.  The  song  —  "  The  Proselyte,"  set  to 
the  tune  of  the  "  Thief  and  Cordelier,"  which  embraced  the 
facts  of  the  case,  was  sung  about  the  country.  Before  the 
close  of  1708,  he  was  inducted  into  the  desired  rectorship  ; 
and  of  Christ  Church,  was  the  third  in  succession.  He  con 
tinued  to  discharge  his  ministerial  duties  until  1775,  when 
the  force  of  events  compelled  him  to  abandon  his  flock.  In 
1776,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  four  persons,  he  went  to 
Halifax.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  set 
tled  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  after  the  war,  and  was 
Rector  of  the  city,  and  Chaplain  of  the  Province.  He  died 
at  St.  John  in  1814.  His  daughter  Anna  married  Thomas 
Deisbrisay,  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Artillery  in  the  British 
Army,  in  1799.  His  daughter  Elizabeth  married  William 

•/  7  O 

Scovil,  Esquire,  of  St.  John,  and  died  in  1808,  at  the  age  of 
forty-one.  His  son  Belcher  died  in  England  in  1815,  aged 
thirty-five.  His  daughter  Rebecca,  born  in  New  London, 
1762,  married  W.  J.  Almon,  M.  D.,  and  died  at  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  1853.  His  son  Mather  died  at  Grenada,  in 
1803,  aged  thirty-nine. 

BYRNE,  BENEDICT.  Of  Maryland  or  Virginia.  He  en 
tered  a  Loyalist  corps  and  was  taken  prisoner,  but  made  his 
escape  to  New  York,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  pilot.  At 


286  CALDWELL.  -  CALLAHAN. 

the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  three  persons,  and  by 
two  servants,  he  removed  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where 
the  Crown  granted  him  fifty  acres  of  land,  one  town  and  one 
water  lot.  His  losses  in  consequences  of  his  loyalty  were 
estimated  at  <£300.  He  went  to  England  soon  afterwards 
to  obtain  compensation  for  his  services  and  sufferings,  but 
was  unsuccessful.  He  died  at  Digby,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1830, 
aged  eighty-six.  His  first  wife  was  Hannah  Carroll,  of  Vir 
ginia,  who  died  in  Nova  Scotia  in  1786  ;  his  second,  Mrs. 
Wilson,  a  widow,  of  Sbelburne.  His  daughter  Margaret 
married  William  Wbipple,  of  Boston. 

CALDWELL,  CAPTAIN .  Was  killed  in  Pennsylvania 

in  1780,  by  a  Whig  captain,  McMahon,  whom  he  and  an 
Indian  had  taken  prisoner.  Possibly  William  Caldwell,  of 
Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  who  was  attainted  of  treason 
by  proclamation,  and  whose  property  was  confiscated. 

CALEF,  JOHN.  Of  Ipswich,  Massachusetts.  Physician. 
Son  of  Robert  Calef,  and  Margaret,  daughter  of  Deacon  John 
Staniford.  He  was  born  in  Ipswich,  1725,  and  represented 
that  town  in  the  General  Court  several  years.  Driven  into 
exile  by  the  Revolution,  he  became  surgeon  of  one  of  the 
regiments  stationed  at  Castine,  Maine,  and  a  part  of  the  time 
officiated  as  chaplain.  At  the  peace  he  settled  at  St.  Andrew, 
New  Brunswick,  and  died  there  in  1812,  aged  eighty-seven. 
His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Jedediah  Jewett,  of  Rowley, 
Massachusetts. 

CALEF,  ROBERT.  Son  of  John  Calef.  Died  at  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  in  1801,  at  the  age  of  forty-one. 

CALLAHAN,  CHARLES.  Mariner,  of  Pownalborough,  now 
Wiscasset,  Maine ;  was  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778. 
Though  a  Loyalist  in  principle,  he  was  not  disposed  to  be 
active  on  the  side  of  the  Crown,  or  to  abandon  the  country. 
But,  "  drafted  "  repeatedly  to  serve  in  the  Whig  corps,  he  fled 
to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia.  Made  a  King's  pilot,  and  subse 
quently,  in  command  of  the  Grage,  an  armed  vessel  of  twelve 
guns,  he  became  a  terror  to  the  "  Rebels."  Wrecked,  finally, 
and  failing  to  obtain  another  ship,  he  was  still  retained  in 


CALF.  —  CAMERON.  287 

service  and  paid  the  wages  of  a  pilot.  He  perished,  with  one 
hundred  and  sixty-four  others,  on  board  the  North  ship-of- 
war,  near  Halifax,  in  1779.  His  widow  received  a  pension 
of  X40  annually ;  she  returned  to  Pownalborough  about  the 
year  1790,  and  died  there  in  1810.  The  estate  of  her 
husband  was  confiscated,  but  his  farm  and  buildings  came 
into  her  possession. 

CALP,  PHILIP.  Of  Pennsylvania.  In  1778,  he  was  tried 
for  attempting  to  carry  flour  to  a  post  occupied  by  the  Royal 
forces,  and  was  sentenced  to  receive  fifty  lashes,  and  to  be 
employed  on  the  public  works  during  the  time  the  British 
remained  in  Pennsylvania,  unless  he  would  enter  the  Whig 
service  for  the  war.  The  lashes  were  disapproved  by  the 
Commander-in-Chief,  and  were  not  inflicted. 

CAMERON,  ALEXANDER.  Deputy  Indian  Agent  of  the 
Cherokees.  Connected  with  the  first  settlement  of  East 
Tennessee.  In  1768,  a  few  adventurers  from  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  crossed  the  mountains 
in  search  of  a  new  home.  Cameron  soon  ordered  them  to 
remove.  They  refused,  received  accessions,  organized  a  sort 
of  government,  and  continued  prosperous.  When  it  was 
apparent  that  the  controversy  would  end  in  general  war, 
Cameron  changed  his  course,  and  by  flattering  promises  of 
protection,  if  they  would  remain  loyal,  endeavored  to  seduce 
them  to  the  side  of  the  Crown.  They  could  send  five  hun 
dred  riflemen  to  the  field,  at  the  least,  and  their  adhesion  was 
worth  the  effort.  They  were  a  lone  people,  in  the  midst  of 
savages,  and  yet  they  declined  his  offers  unanimously  and 
peremptorily.  His  Majesty's  official  then  formed  a  design  to 
destroy  them  with  a  force  of  Cherokees,  by  falling  upon  them 
suddenly,  and  in  all  quarters  at  the  same  moment.  The  plan 
was  discovered.  Most  of  the  hapless  Whigs  fled  to  the  sev 
eral  places  of  their  nativity.  A  few  established  and  maintained 

a  garrison  until  succored.     In    1775,  the  Council   of  Safety 

j 

proposed  to  him  to  join  the  popular  side,  and  offered  him  a 
salary  equal  to  that  which  he  received  from  the  British  Gov 
ernment,  and  compensation  for  any  losses  he  might  sustain  ; 


288  CAMERON.  —  CAMPBELL. 

he  declined  the  overture,  and,  to  ensure  his  personal  safety, 
retired  to  the  Cherokees.  In  1776,  he  was  in  arms  at  the 
head  of  Tories  and  Indians,  and  was  in  several  skirmishes  ; 
but  he  abandoned  them,  and  fled  to  St.  Augustine,  in  the 
belief  that  the  Whigs  would  subdue  them. 

Among  the  papers  taken  with  Moses  Kirkland  on  his  way 
to  Boston  to  confer  with  Gage,  was  a  "  talk  "  between  Cam 
eron  and  Indian  chiefs,  in  which  the  latter  expressed  their 
readiness  to  aid  in  the  massacre  of  the  people  in  the  back 
settlements  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  Cameron  owned 
two  large  plantations  near  the  Savannah  river,  on  which  he 
had  placed  a  number  of  negroes,  horses  and  cattle,  and  from 
the  produce  of  which  he  promised  himself  a  fortune  in  a  few 
years. 

CAMERON,  MEDERICH.  Of  New  York.  His  son  Mede- 
rich,  who  was  a  Whig,  fled  from  school,  and  joined  the  army 
as  a  drummer.  The  father  followed  the  youth  to  camp,  and 
succeeded  in  obtaining  his  release.  At  the  peace,  Mr. 
Cameron  went  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia.  He  owned  three 
houses  in  the  city  of  New  York,  two  of  which  he  demolished 
at  leaving,  and  transported  the  bricks  of  wrhieh  they  wrere 
built  to  Shelburne,  to  serve  in  the  construction  of  a  new 
dwelling  there.  He  died  at  Liverpool,  Nova  Scotia,  during 
the  war  of  1812,  at  the  ao-e  of  ninety-eight.  Two  children 

O  J  C> 

survived  him.  The  son  above  mentioned  went  to  Nova  Scotia 
with  his  father,  but  returned  to  New  York. 

CAMPBELL,  LORD  WILLIAM.  Last  Roval  Governor  of  South 
Carolina.  He  was  the  youngest  son  of  the  fourth  Duke  of 
Argyle.  Entered  the  navy,  and  became  a  captain  in  1762. 
The  year  after,  he  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Ralph  Izard, 
of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  in  1764  was  a  member  of 
the  British  House  of  Commons.  In  1766,  he  was  appointed 
Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  remained  there  until  1773. 
He  assumed  the  Executive  Chair  of  South  Carolina  in  1775, 
while  the  first  Provincial  Congress  was  in  session,  and  refused 
to  acknowledge  that  body.  He  was  zealous  in  opposing  the 
popular  movement,  and,  distrustful,  finally,  "  of  his  personal 


CAMPBELL.  289 

safety,  retired  to  the  Tumor  sloop-of-war."  In  the  attack  on 
Charleston,  in  1770,  he  served  on  board  of  one  of  the  British 
ships,  and  received  a  wound  which  in  the  end  was  mortal. 
He  died  September,  1778. 

While  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  he  granted  to  Captain 
William  Owen,  father  of  the  late  Admiral  Owen,  the  island 
of  Campo  Bcllo,  opposite  Eastport  and  Lubec,  Maine.  "  Lord 
William  and  the  Captain,"  remarked  the  Admiral  to  the 
writer,  "  were  both  poor  at  the  time  of  the  grant." 

CAMPBELL,  FARQUARD.  Of  North  Carolina.  Was  a  gen 
tleman  of  wealth,  education,  and  influence,  and  regarded  as  a 
"  flaming  Whig."  Was  elected  a  member  of  the  Provincial 
Congress,  took  his  seat,  and  evinced  much  zeal  in  the  popular 
cause.  When,  however,  Governor  Martin  abandoned  his 
palace  and  retreated,  first  to  Fort  Johnston,  and  thence  to 
an  armed  ship  of  the  Crown,  it  was  ascertained  that  he  visited 
Campbell  at  his  residence.  And  this  circumstance  gave  rise 
to  a  suspicion  of  his  fidelity.  Soon  after,  the  Governor  asked 
Congress  to  give  his  coach  and  horses  safe  conduct  to  Camp 
bell's  house  in  the  county  of  Cumberland.  The  President  of 
Congress  submitted  the  request  to  that  body,  when  Mr.  Camp 
bell  rose  in  his  place,  and  expressed  his  surprise  that  such  a 
proposal  should  have  been  made  without  his  knowledge  and 
consent,  and  implored  that  his  Excellency's  property  might 
not  thus  be  disposed  of.  On  this  positive  disclaimer,  a  reso 
lution  was  passed,  which  not  only  acquitted  him  of  all  im 
proper  connection  with  the  Governor,  but  asserted  his  devo 
tion  to  the  Whig  interests.  But  his  character  never  recovered 
from  the  shock,  and  the  belief  that  he  continued  a  secret 
correspondence  with  the  retreating  representative  of  Royalty, 
was  commonly  entertained  by  his  associates.  Yet  his  votes, 
his  services  on  committees,  and  his  course  in  debate,  remained 
unchanged.  After  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  his  part 
became  too  difficult  to  act,  and  his  double-dealing  could  no 
longer  be  concealed.  In  the  fall  of  1776  he  was  seized  at  his 
own  house,  while  entertaining  a  party  of  Loyalists,  and  borne 
off  for  trial.  His  name  next  appears  in  the  Revolutionary 

VOL.  i.  25 


290  CAMPBELL. 

annals  of  North  Carolina,  in  the  Banishment  and  Confisca 
tion  Act.  But  several  years  after  the  Revolution,  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Senate  of  North  Carolina. 

CAMPBELL,  ALEXANDER.  Of  Falmouth,  Virginia.  Mer 
chant.  Emigrated  from  Scotland  some  years  before  the  war, 
adhered  to  the  Crown,  and  returned,  probably,  in  1776. 
Thomas  Campbell,  the  poet,  was  his  youngest  son.  Another 
son  married  a  daughter  of  Patrick  Henry.  His  brother 
Archibald,  an  Episcopal  minister,  was  a  Whig,  and  Wash 
ington  and  the  Lees  were  among  his  parishioners.  This 
array  of  great  names  may  be  completed  by  adding,  that 
Patrick  Henry  "  was  descended  on  his  mother's  side  from 
the  stock  of  Robertson,  the  historian,  and  in  that  way  a  re 
lative  of  Lord  Brougham." 

CAMPBELL,  PETER.  Of  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  He  entered 
the  military  service  of  the  Crown,  and  at  the  peace  was  a 
captain  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  He  had  property  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  directed  by  the  Executive  Council  of 
that  State  to  surrender  himself  for  trial  within  a  specified  time, 
or  stand  attainted  of  treason.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick, 
and  received  half-pay.  He  died  at  Maugerville,  in  that  Col 
ony,  in  1822,  and  was  buried  at  Fredricton. 

CAMPBELL,  COLIN.  Was  an  ensign  in  De  Lancey's  Second 
Battalion,  quartermaster  of  the  corps,  and  subsequently  a 
lieutenant.  His  son,  Colin  Campbell,  was  Sheriff  of  Char 
lotte  County,  New  Brunswick.  Died  at  St.  Andrew,  in  that 
Province,  in  1843. 

CAMPBELL,  WILLIAM.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  In 
1775  the  Committee  of  that  town  appointed  to  watch  and  deal 
with  the  disaffected,  resolved  to  send  him  to  the  Provincial 
Congress  at  Watertown,  to  be  disposed  of  as  that  body,  or 
the  Commander-in-Chief  at  Cambridge,  should  think  proper  ; 
"  it  being  judged  highly  improper  that  he  should  tarry  any 
longer  "  at  Worcester.  He  was  at  Boston  in  1776,  and  em 
barked  with  the  Royal  Army  at  the  evacuation.  In  1783  he 
was  at  New  York,  and  one  of  the  fifty  petitioners  for  lands 
in  Nova  Scotia.  [See  Abijah  Willard.]  He  went  to  Halifax 


CAMPBELL.  —  CAMP.  291 

in  the  last  mentioned  year,  where  he  remained  in  1786,  when 
lie  removed  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  He  was  Mayor 
of  St.  John  twenty  years,  and  died  in  that  city  in  1823,  aged 
eighty-two.  Elizabeth,  his  widow,  died  in  1824,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-four.  Agnes,  his  only  daughter,  died  at  St.  John 
in  1840,  aged  seventy-eight. 

CAMPBELL,  WILLIAM.  Major  in  the  South  Carolina  Roy 
alists.  Killed  in  the  affair  at  Stono  Ferry,  South  Carolina, 
June,  1779. 

CAMPBELL,  JOHN.  Of  North  Carolina.  Captain  in  the 
Loyal  Militia.  Killed  in  the  battle  of  Cross  Creek,  1776. 

CAMP,  ABIATHAR,  ABIATHAH  JR.,  and  ELDAD.  Loyal 
ists  of  Connecticut.  Settled  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1788,  and  received  grants  of  city  lots.  Abiathar  was  one 
of  the  fifty-five  petitioners  for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  He  died 
in  New  Brunswick,  in  1841,  aged  eighty-four.  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  Recanter,  but,  like  most  of  this  class,  finally 
became  an  exile.  October  2,  1775,  he  wrote  and  subscribed 
the  following  :  — 

"I,  Abiathar  Camp,  of  New  Haven,  in  the  County  of  New 
Haven,  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  although  I  well  knew 
that  it  was  the  opinion  of  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  said 
town,  that  vessels  ought  not  to  clear  out  under  the  Restrain 
ing  Act,  which  opinion  they  had,  for  my  satisfaction,  expressed 
by  a  vote  when  I  was  present  ;  and  although  I  had  assured 
that  I  would  not  clear  out  my  vessel  under  said  Restraining 
Act,  did,  nevertheless,  cause  my  vessel  to  be  cleared  out  agree 
able  to  said  Restraining  Act ;  and  did,  after  I  knew  that  the 
Committee  of  Inspection  had  given  it  as  their  opinion,  that  it 
was  most  advisable  that  vessels  should  not  clear  out  under 
said  Restraining  Act,  send  my  vessel  off  to  sea  with  such 
clearance,  for  which  I  am  heartily  sorry  ;  and  now  publicly 
ask  the  forgiveness  of  all  the  friends  of  America,  and  hope 
that  they  will  restore  me  to  charity.  And  I  do  now  most 
solemnly  assure  the  public,  though  I  own  that  I  have  by  my 
said  conduct  given  them  too  much  reason  to  question  my  ve 
racity,  that  I  will  strictly  comply  with  the  directions,  and 


292  CANBY.  —  C  ANER. 

fully  lend  my  utmost  assistance  to  carry  into  execution  all 
such  measures  as  the  Continental  Congress  have  or  may 
advise  to.  ABIATHAR  CAMP." 

CANBY,  JOSEPH,  and  THOMAS.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Were 
attainted  of  treason  and  lost  their  property  by  confiscation. 
Joseph  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and 
was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  commenced  business  as  a  mer 
chant.  In  1795  he  was  a  member  of  the  company  of  Loyal 
Artillery.  He  was  killed  by  falling  from  a  wharf  in  1814.  at 
the  age  of  fifty-seven. 

CANE,  BARNEY.  He  boasted  of  having  killed  upon  Dia 
mond  Island,  Lake  George,  a  gentleman  named  Hopkins, 
who  was  there  with  a  number  of  others  on  an  excursion  of 
pleasure.  "  Several  were  killed  by  our  party,"  said  Cane, 
"  among  whom  was  one  woman  who  bad  a  suckling  child, 
which  was  not  hurt.  This  we  put  to  the  breast  of  its  dead 
mother,  and  so  we  left  it.  Hopkins  was  only  wounded,  but, 
with  the  butt  of  my  gun,  and  the  third  blow,  I  laid  him 
dead." 

CANER,  HENRY,  D.  D.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1724,  and  in  1727  went  to  England  for  ordination.  For  some 
years,  subsequently,  his  ministry  was  confined  to  Norwalk 
and  Fairfield,  Connecticut ;  but  in  1747  he  was  inducted  into 
office  as  Rector  of  the  First  Episcopal  Church,  (King's  Chapel) 
Boston.  The  troubles  of  the  Revolution  drove  him  from  his 
flock  in  1776.  He  said,  the  evacuation  of  Boston  was  so 
sudden,  that  he  was  prevented  from  saving  his  books,  furni 
ture,  or  anything  else,  except  bedding,  wearing  apparel,  and 
a  few  stores  for  his  small  family  during  the  passage.  May 
10,  1776,  he  wrote  at  Halifax,  that  he  was  without  means  of 
support,  and  was  dependent  on  the  charity  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Breynton.  He  took  away  the  King's  Chapel  church  regis 
ters  and  plate,  and  a  part  of  the  vestry  records.  After  the 
lapse  of  more  than  twenty-five  years,  the  registers  were  ob 
tained  of  his  heirs.  He  went  from  Halifax  to  England  ;  but 
returned  and  officiated  at  Bristol,  Rhode  Island.  He  was 
proscribed  and  banished,  under  the  statute  of  Massachusetts, 


C  ANPIELD.  —  CAPEN.  293 

in  1778.  His  talents  were  good,  his  manners  agreeable,  and 
he  was  highly  esteemed  by  his  people.  A  fellow-Loyalist 
wrote,  in  1785 :  "  By  letters  from  London,  I  am  informed 
that  Dr.  Cancr  had  retired  with  his  young  wife  to  Cardiff, 
in  Wales." 

His  estate,  which  was  confiscated,  was  next  to  the  Chapel 
burying-ground,  and  is  now  owned  by  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society.  He  died  at  Long  Asliton,  England,  in 
1792,  aged  ninety-three. 

CANFIELD,  -  — .  Of  Northampton,  Massachusetts.  He 
was  a  Whig,  and  a  soldier  in  the  1st  New  Hampshire  Regi 
ment,  but  deserted  and  joined  the  Rangers.  While  on  a  plun 
dering  excursion  in  1782  he  was  captured,  tried  for  his  life, 
and  sentenced  to  be  executed  at  Saratoga  on  the  6th  of  June 
of  that  year. 

CAPEN,  HOPESTILL.  Of  Boston.  An  Addresser  of  Hutch- 
inson  in  1774,  and  a  Protestor  against  the  Whigs,  the  same 
year.  He  was  a  Sandemanian. 

In  1776,  the  Council  ordered  his  arrest,  and  he  was 
committed  to  the  jail  in  Boston  ;  and  in  October  of  that 
year,  his  wife  petitioned  for  his  release,  urging,  among  other 
reasons,  that  both  herself  and  children  had  suffered  great 
distress  in  consequence  of  his  long  confinement.  More  than 
eighty  citizens  of  Boston  joined  Mrs.  Capen,  and  said  in  his 
behalf,  that  he  was  an  honest  and  peaceable  man,  and,  that 
while  the  Royal  Army  occupied  the  town,  he  had  exerted 
himself  to  save  the  property  of  absentees.  In  December,  Mr. 
Capen  himself  addressed  a  paper  to  Joseph  Greenleaf,  the 
sheriff,  in  which  he  complains  of  his  treatment  in  severe 
terms,  and  from  which  it  appears  that  he  had  been  a  close 
prisoner  for  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  days.  As  the 
sheriff  was  personally  accused,  he  laid  the  communication 
before  the  House,  and  begged  to  be  protected  from  Mr. 
Capen's  insults.  Before  me,  also,  is  a  long  document  which 
this  unfortunate  Loyalist  prepared  to  read  to  a  Court  of  In 
quiry,  expected  by  him  to  take  cognizance  of  his  case,  and 
which,  though  of  some  ability,  bears  evidence  of  a  mind  dis- 
25* 


294  CAPERS.  —  CAREW. 

ordered  by  fanaticism.  He  was  in  Boston  in  1795,  and  lived 
near  the  Market.  Before  the  Revolution,  he  was  a  merchant, 
and  the  celebrated  Count  Rumford  was,  at  one  time,  his 
clerk. 

CAPERS,  GABRIEL.  Of  South  Carolina.  An  officer  under 
the  Crown  after  the  surrender  of  Charleston.  Estate  confis 
cated.  Probably  a  Whig  at  first  ;  as  in  1775  lie  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  and  was  placed  upon  an  im 
portant  standing  committee  of  that  body.  His  wife,  and  his 
daughter  Catherine,  (wife  of  Hugh  Patterson),  died  at 
Charleston  in  1808. 

CARBERY,  -  — .A  captain  in  the  Whig  service,  and 
apparently  in  Colonel  Moyland's  Regiment.  In  June,  1788, 
he  fled  to  London  witli  Lieutenant  John  Sullivan,  in  whose 
plot  he  was  implicated.  Sullivan  says  of  him  :  "  This  young 
gentleman  served  with  eclat  in  the  army,  and  spent  a  pretty 
fortune  in  the  service  of  his  country." 

GARDEN,  JOHN.  Major  in  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Ameri 
can  Regiment.  In  1780  he  was  in  command  of  the  post  at 
Hanging  Rock,  when,  assaulted  by  Sumter,  he  exposed  him 
self  to  censure  and  disgrace,  by  resigning  to  Captain  Rouslet 
of  the  Infantry  of  the  Legion,  in  the  heat  of  the  battle.  He 
died  in  April,  1783. 

CAREW,  SIR  BENJAMIN  HALLOWELL.  Of  Massachusetts. 
Admiral  of  the  Blue  in  the  British  Navy,  G.  C.  B.,  K.  St. 
F.  M.  He  was  the  son  of  Benjamin  Hallowell,  one  of  the 
Commissioners  of  the  Customs  at  Boston,  and  entered  the 
service  at  an  early  age.  His  commission  as  Lieutenant,  bears 
date  August,  1781  ;  as  Captain,  in  1793  ;  as  Rear-Admiral, 
in  1811  ;  as  Vice-Admiral,  in  1819.  He  was  made  a  Knight 
Commander  of  the  Bath  in  1819,  and  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  Grand  Cross  in  1831.  His  employments  at  sea  were 
various  and  arduous.  He  was  with  Rodney  in  the  memorable 
battle  with  de  Grasse  ;  in  the  siege  of  Bastia  ;  and  in  com 
mand  of  a  ship-of-the-line  under  Hotham,  in  the  encounter 
with  the  French  off  the  Hieres  Islands.  He  served  as  a 
volunteer  on  board  the  Victory,  in  the  battle  of  Cape  St. 


CAREW.  295 

Vincent.  In  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  he  commanded  the 
Swiftmre,  of  seventy-four  guns,  and  contributed  essentially 
to  the  success  of  the  day.  From  a  part  of  the  mainmast 
of  jL'  Orient,  which  was  picked  up  by  the  Swiftsure,  Hallo- 
well  directed  his  carpenter  to  make  a  coffin,  which  was  sent 
to  Nelson  with  the  following  letter  :  — 

"  Sir,  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  presenting  you  a  coffin 
made  from  the  mainmast  of  L?  Orient,  that  when  you  have 
finished  your  military  career  in  this  world,  you  may  be  buried 
in  one  of  your  trophies.  But  that  that  period  may  be  far 
distant  is  the  earnest  wish  of  your  sincere  friend, 

BENJAMIN  HALLOWELL." 

Southey,  in  his  "  Life  of  Nelson,"  remarks  :  "  An  offering  so 
strange,  and  yet  so  suited  to  the  occasion,  was  received  in  the 
spirit  in  which  it  was  sent.  And,  as  if  he  felt  it  good  lor  him, 
now  that  he  was  at  the  summit  of  his  wishes,  to  have  death 
before  his  eyes,  he  ordered  the  coffin  to  be  placed  upright  in 

his  cabin An   old  favorite  servant  entreated  him  so 

earnestly  to  let  it  be  removed,  that  at  length  he  consented 
to  have  the  coffin  carried  below  ;  but  he  gave  strict  orders 
that  it  should  be  safely  stowed,  and  reserved  for  the  purpose 
for  which  its  brave  and  worthy  donor  had  designed  it." 

After  the  battle,  Nelson  said,  that  had  it  not  been  for  Trow- 
bridge,  Bail,  Hood,  and  Hallowell,  he  should  have  sunk  under 
the  fatigue  of  refitting  the  squadron.  "All,''  he  stated,  "had 
done  well  ;  but  these  officers  were  his  supporters." 

In  1799,  Sir  Benjamin  was  engaged  in  the  attacks  on  the 
castles  of  St.  Elmo  and  Capua,  and  was  honored  with  the 
Neapolitan  Order  of  St.  Ferdinand  and  Merit.  Two  years 
later,  he  fell  in  with  the  French  squadron,  and  surrendered 
his  ship —  the  Swiftsure  —  after  a  sharp  contest.  During  the 
peace  of  Amiens,  he  was  stationed  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
He  was  with  Hood  in  the  reduction  of  St.  Lucia  and  Tobago ; 
with  Nelson  in  the  West  Indies  ;  in  command  of  the  convoy 
of  the  second  expedition  to  Egypt ;  with  Martin,  off  the  mouth 
of  the  Rhone,  where  he  assisted  in  driving  on  shore  several 
French  ships-of-war ;  and  in  the  Mediterranean.  His  last 


296  CARLETON.  —  CARLISLE. 

duty  seems  to  have  been  performed  on  the  Irish  station,  and 
at  the  Nore. 

Sir  Benjamin  succeeded  to  the  estates  of  the  Carews,  of 
Beddington,  and  assumed  the  name  and  arms,  pursuant  to  the 
will  of  his  cousin,  Mrs.  Anne  Paston  Gee,  who  died  in  1828. 
These  estates  are  entailed  on  his  sons  in  succession,  and  their 
male  issue.  He  died  at  Beddington  Park,  in  1834,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-three.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Commissioner 
Inglefield,  of  Gibraltar  Dock-yard.  His  son  and  heir,  Charles 
Hallowell  Carew,  who,  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  had  attained 
the  rank  of  captain  in  the  Royal  Navy,  and  who  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  the  late  Sir  Murray  Maxwell,  C.  B.,  died 
at  the  Park,  in  1848.  In  1851,  his  fifth  son,  Robert  Hallo- 
well  Carew,  late  captain  in  the  86th  Regiment,  married  Ann 
Rycroft,  widow  of  Walter  Tyson  Smythes, 

CARLETON,  JOHN.  Of  Woolwich,  Maine.  A  man,  says 
Rev.  Jacob  Bailey,  "  of  the  highest  integrity,  the  most  un 
daunted  fortitude,  and  inflexible  loyalty."  Met  in  a  forest  by 
near  two  hundred  men,  and  required  to  sign  a  certain  paper, 
or  consent  to  be  buried  alive,  he  chose  the  latter,  and  assisted 
in  di  fain  o-  \}\s  Own  orave.  Swearing  that  he  was  a  brave 

CT{T">        O        '  '        t?  C3 

fellow,  the  Sons  of  Liberty  allowed  him  to  depart.  Afterwards 
plundered,  he  escaped  to  the  British  post  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Penobscot,  and  was  there  early  in  1781.  At  that  time,  he 
had  a  wife  and  ten  children. 

CARLISLE,  ABRAHAM.  Of  Philadelphia.  When  the  Royal 
troops  took  possession  of  that  city,  he  received  a  commission 
from  Sir  William  Howe,  to  watch  and  guard  its  entrances, 
and  to  grant  passports.  For  this  offence  he  was  tried  for  his 
life  in  1778,  and  having  been  found  guilty  of  an  overt  act 
of  aiding  and  assisting  the  enemy,  was  executed.  Thomas 
McKean,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
at  that  time  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  presided  at  the 
trial.  In  1779,  and  after  his  death,  the  estate  of  Carlisle  was 
confiscated  ;  but  a  part  was  restored  to  his  son  Abraham,  in 
1792.  By  some,  the  execution  of  Carlisle  was  denounced  as 
judicial  murder.  Great  efforts  were  made  to  save  him. 


CARLO.  —  CARSON.  297 

CARLO,  JOHN,  and  MARTIN.  Of  Maine.  Brothers.  Set 
out  to  travel  to  Halifax  by  land,  in  1778,  and,  after  enlisting 
with  the  "  Rebels  "  to  avoid  detection,  and  various  other  ad 
ventures,  they  arrived  in  Nova  Scotia.  The  year  following. 
Martin  was  at  Lunenburg,  in  that  Colony,  and  John  at  the 
British  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot.  In  1782  Martin 
had  u  gone  to  live  at  home  in  peace." 

CARMAN,  RICHARD.  Of  New  York.  Went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city. 
Sarah,  his  widow,  died  in  the  county  of  York,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1835,  aged  seventy-one.  Several  persons  of  the 
name  of  Carman,  of  Queen's  County,  New  York,  acknowl 
edged  allegiance  to  Lord  Richard  and  Sir  William  Howe  in 
1776. 

CARNEY,  ANDREW.  Of  Georgia.  Captain  in  the  first 
battalion  of  the  Continental  line  raised  in  that  State.  He 
lived  between  the  Altamaha  and  St.  Mary's  Rivers,  and 
owned  a  large  herd  of  cattle,  which  he  secretly  sold  to  the 
British.  After  his  own  stock  was  exhausted,  he  began  to  steal 
from  his  neighbors.  Alarmed,  finally,  for  his  personal  safety, 
he  purposely  exposed  himself  to  capture,  and,  with  his  son, 
became  active  on  the  side  of  the  Crown.  His  name  was 
stricken  from  the  rolls  of  the  Whig  Army,  not  only  as  a  de 
serter,  but  a  traitor,  and  his  property  was  confiscated. 

CARPENTER,  WILLET.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  in 
1783,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1833,  aged  seventy-seven. 

CARSON,  MOSES.  Captain  in  the  Continental  Army.  He 
deserted  to  the  Royal  Army  in  1777.  In  1779  he  was  caught, 
and  tried  by  a  court-martial,  and  sentenced  to  be  drummed 
through  the  army  in  the  vicinity  of  West  Point,  with  a  halter 
round  his  neck,  and  a  label  fastened  to  his  back,  bearing  these 
words :  "  Moses  Carson,  late  Captain  in  the  American  Army : 
—  this  I  suffer  for  deserting  to  the  enemies  of  the  United 
States  of  North  America."  This  punishment  inflicted,  he 
was  sentenced,  further,  to  be  confined  during  the  remainder 
of  the  war  ;  and  the  Commander-in-Chief  approved  the  find 
ing  of  the  Court. 


298  CASTILLES.-CAZNEAU. 

CASTILLES,  WILLIAM.  Of  Albany,  New  York.  In  1780, 
a  lieutenant  in  Cuyler's  corps,  and  stationed  on  Long  Island. 
At  the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family  and  by  six  servants, 
he  went  from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where 
the  Crown  granted  him  fifty  acres  of  land,  one  town  and  one 
water-lot.  His  losses,  in  consequence  of  his  loyalty,  were  esti 
mated  at  £500. 

CAYFORD,  RICHARD.  Of  New  Jersey.  Convicted  of  en 
mity  to  his  country,  of  "  cursing  and  ill-treating  all  Con 
gresses  and  Committees,"  by  the  Committee  of  Cumberland 
County;  and,  January,  1776,  ordered  by  the  Committee  of 
Safety  to  be  disarmed,  to  pay  the  expenses  of  proceedings 
against  him,  to  be  kept  in  close  prison  until  he  should  manifest 
contrition  for  his  offences,  and  give  security  for  his  future 
good  behavior.  He  entered  the  service  of  the  Crown,  and 
in  1777  was  a  captain  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers. 

CAZNEAU,  ANDREW.  Of  Boston.  His  name  is  found 
among  the  Addressers  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  among 
those  of  Gage  in  1775,  and  in  the  Banishment  and  Proscrip 
tion  Act  of  1778.  He  was  educated  to  the  bar  ;  was  a  bar- 
rister-of-la\v  and  a  Judge  of  Admiralty  ;  and  a  gentleman  of 
character,  talents,  and  virtue.  In  1775  he  went  to  England, 
but  not  remaining  long  there,  took  up  his  residence  in  Ber 
muda,  where  he  held  an  honorable  post  under  the  Crown. 
He  returned  to  Boston  in  1788,  and  died  at  Roxbury,  in 
1792.  His  wife  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  John  Hammock, 
merchant,  of  Boston.  The  only  daughter  who  survived  him 
married  Thomas  Brewer,  a  merchant  of  the  same  town,  who, 
as  is  supposed,  perished  about  the  year  1812,  on  a  voyage 
from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Sumatra.  The  property  of 
Mr.  Cazneau  escaped  the  Confiscation  Act,  and  was  inherited 
by  Mrs.  Brewer.  That  lady,  a  venerable  relic  of  the  u  old 
school  "  of  manners,  respected  and  beloved,  died  at  Eastport, 
Maine,  September,  1851,  aged  eighty. 

CAZNEAU,  EDWARD.  Of  Boston.  He  was  the  foreman 
in  the  druggist  store  of  Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner,  and  in  1776 
went  to  Halifax.  At  the  peace  he  returned  to  the  United 


CECIL.  —  CHALMERS.  299 

States,  and  settled  as  a  physician  at  Charleston,  South  Car 
olina.  He  died  in  Boston,  unmarried. 

CECIL,  LEONARD.  Of  Maryland.  Went  to  England.  In 
July,  1779,  he  was  in  London,  and  met  with  other  Loyalists 
at  the  Crown  and  Anchor  Tavern. 

CHALMERS,  GEORGE.  Of  Maryland.  Was  a  native  of 
Scotland,  and  was  born  in  1742.  After  receiving  an  education 
at  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  and  after  studying  law  at  Edin 
burgh,  he  emigrated  to  Maryland,  and  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  The  revolutionary  troubles  caused 
his  return  to  England,  where  he  was  soon  appointed  to  office. 
For  many  years  he  filled  the  station  of  chief  clerk  of  the 
Committee  of  the  Privy  Council.  He  died  in  England  in 
1825,  aged  eighty-two.  In  person,  he  was  tall,  stout,  and 
manly,  and  so  nearly  resembled  Lord  Melville,  that  they 
were  often  taken  for  each  other. 

He  possessed  rare  opportunities  for  the  examination  of 
State  papers,  which  he  diligently  improved.  As  a  writer  he 
was  able,  honest,  and  labor-loving,  but  strongly  prejudiced. 
He  was  never  so  happy,  I  will  venture  to  say,  as  when  delving 
among  State  papers.  He  had  official  concern  with  those  of 
England,  for  nearly  half  a  century.  His  historical  works 
were  numerous,  are  highly  esteemed,  and  generally  cited  by 
annalists.  His  style  is  concise  and  vigorous,  but  is  deficient 
in  simplicity,  clearness,  and  finish.  He  designed  to  inform 
political  men  about  political  events,  rather  than  to  amuse  and 
please  the  general  reader.  He  was  fond  of  short  and  pithy 
expressions  ;  but  what  he  thus  meant  for  maxims,  is  not  always 
beautiful  or  sound.  His  "  Political  Annals  of  the  United  Col 
onies  "  appeared  in  1780  ;  his  "  Estimate  of  the  Strength  of 
Great  Britain,"  in  1782  ;  his  Opinions  on  Subjects  of  Law 
and  Policy,  arising  from  American  Independence,"  in  1784  ; 
his  "  Opinions  of  Lawyers  and  English  Jurisprudence,"  in 
1814.  His  u  Life  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,"  published  in 
1822,  shows  the  ardor  and  zeal  which  he  could  bring  to 
bear  upon  a  favorite  subject  ;  it  is  the  plea  of  an  advocate,  to 
prove  from  official  documents,  that  this  unfortunate  daughter 


300  CHALMERS. 

of  the  Stuarts  was  innocent  of  the  murder  of  her  second  hus 
band  ;  and  most  manfully  and  earnestly  did  he  perform  the 
task. 

In  1845,  his  "  Introduction  to  the  History  of  the  Revolt  of 
the  British  Colonies  "  was  issued  at  Boston.  Its  publication 
was  commenced  in  England  during  the  Revolution,  but  was 
abandoned,  and  the  part  printed  suppressed.  As  Mr.  Chal 
mers  had  access  to  the  highest  sources  of  information,  as  he 
possessed  remarkable  industry,  the  "  Introduction"  is  valuable 
to  students  of  history.  It  embraces  a  political  view  of  all 
the  Colonies,  and  of  the  whole  period  between  the  early 
settlements  in  Virginia  and  the  close  of  the  reign  of  George 
the  Second.  But  the  author's  dislike  to  New  England  was 
unconquerable,  and  is  sometimes  manifested  at  the  expense  of 
truth  and  propriety.  It  was  meant  to  serve  a  particular  end, 
and  implicit  faith,  therefore,  is  not  due  to  his  statements  or 
conclusions  ;  for,  as  already  remarked,  his  antipathies  were 
strong,  and  sometimes  disturbed  his  judgment.  But  he  often 
laments  and  severely  rebukes  the  inattention,  weakness,  and 
ignorance  which  prevailed  in  the  councils  of  England  with 
regard  to  her  American  Colonies  ;  and  few  who  administered 
her  affairs  during  the  period  of  which  he  speaks,  escape  his 
censures.  Still,  the  leading  principle  or  doctrine  of  the  work 
is,  that  British  subjects  in  America  were  allowed  far  too  much 
freedom,  and  that  their  final  independence  was  the  natural 
result  of  continued  and  ill-advised  indulgence.  In  other 
words,  he  thought  that  carelessness  and  kindness,  and  not 
extreme  watchfulness  and  undue  severity,  were  the  causes  of 
their  "  Revolt."  His  opening  passage  is  singular,  and  thus  : 
"  Whether  the  famous  achievements  of  Columbus  introduced 
the  greatest  good  or  evil  by  discovering  a  New  World  to  the 
Old,  has  in  every  succeeding  age  offered  a  subject  for  disputa 
tion."  Perhaps,  were  he  now  alive,  he  might  so  far  yield  his 
prejudices  as  to  admit  that  the  "  good  of  the  achievement  " 
greatly  predominates  over  the  "  evil."  He  was  a  stout,  and 
it  is  readily  conceded,  an  honest  Loyalist.  But  since  he 
would  have  kept  the  New  World  in  a  state  of  vassalage  to  the 


CHALMERS.  —  CIIAMPNEY.  301 

Old,  and  would  have  Lad  our  country  to  remain  as  it  was 
when  lie  wrote  of  it,  there  need  be  no  better  refutation  of  his 
political  errors  than  can  be  found  in  contrasting  his  own 
account  of  our  condition  as  Colonies  with  our  present  wealth 
and  power. 

CHALMERS,  JAMES.  Of  Maryland.  He  was  a  gentleman 
of  consideration  in  his  neighborhood,  and  raised  and  com 
manded  a  corps  called  the  Maryland  Loyalists,  with  the 
rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel.  Though  more  successful  than 
Colonel  Clifton,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  completed  his 
quota  of  recruits.  His  corps  was  in  service  in  1782,  but  was 
very  deficient  in  numbers.  He  himself  went  to  England  ; 
but,  in  September,  1788,  the  Maryland  Loyalists  embarked 
at  New  York  for  St.  John,  New  Brunswick  ;  were  wrecked 
near  Cape  Sable,  and  more  than  half  their  number  perished. 

CHALONER,  NIAYON.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  was 
Register  of  Deeds  and  Wills  for  King's  County.  He  died  at 
Kingston  in  1885. 

CHALONER,  WALTER.  Of  Rhode  Island,  and  sheriff  of 
the  county  of  Newport.  He  was  at  New  York  in  1782,  a 
deputy  commissary  of  prisoners.  In  1788  he  was  one  of  the 
fifty-five  petitioners  for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  [See  Abijah 
Willard.^  He  \vent  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at  the 
close  of  the  contest,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  died 
at  St.  John  in  1792.  Ann,  his  widow,  died  in  1803.  Eliza 
beth,  his  daughter,  in  1814,  and  John,  his  son,  in  1827. 

CHALONER,  WILLIAM.  Of  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  Went 
to  Nova  Scotia,  and  died  there  in  1792. 

CHAMPNEY,  EBENEZEU.  Of  New  Ipswich,  New  Hamp 
shire.  He  was  born  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University  in  17 02.  He  designed  to  enter 
the  ministry,  and  actually  officiated  for  some  time ;  but,  relin 
quishing  theology  for  the  law,  entered  the  office  of  Samuel 
Livermore,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  17(38.  He  was 
u  a  moderate  Tory,"  deprecating  war,  and  wishing  to  pre 
serve  his  loyalty.  During  hostilities,  he  was  very  unpop 
ular.  After  the  war,  however,  he  gave  his  adhesion  to  the 

VOL.  i.  26 


302  CHANDLER. 

new  Government ;  and,  in  1795,  was  appointed  Judge  of 
Probate  for  Hillsborough  County.  He  died  in  1810,  aged 
sixty-seven. 

CHANDLER,  REV.  THOMAS  B.,  D.  D.  Of  Elizabethtown, 
New  Jersey.  Episcopal  minister.  He  was  born  in  Wood 
stock,  Connecticut,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1745. 
Bred  a  Congregationalist,  he  embraced  Episcopacy  in  1748  ; 
and,  three  years  later,  went  to  England  for  ordination.  On  his 
return,  he  became  Rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  and  long  main 
tained  a  high  character  for  erudition  and  talents.  He  was  an 
early  and  an  uncompromising  Loyalist.  He  had  a  contest 
with  William  Livingston  on  the  subject  of  Episcopacy,  before 
the  Revolution  ;  and  he  is  among  the  persons  to  whom  was 
ascribed  the  famous  pamphlets,  "A  Friendly  Address  to  all 
Reasonable  Americans,"  and  "What  think  ye  of  Congress 
now  ?  "  He  advocated  the  appointment  of  Bishops  for  the 
Colonies,  in  an  Address  to  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia. 
In  1776,  he,  with  others,  petitioned  the  King  for  a  grant  of 
100,000  acres  of  land  in  Canada,  in  consideration  of  their 
eminent  services  to  the  Crown,  &c.  His  flock  diminished 
in  consequence  of  his  political  views  and  the  manner  of  ex 
pressing  them ;  but  he  was  not  molested,  or  treated  with 
personal  indignity.  He  was  elected  first  Bishop  of  Nova 
Scotia,  but  declined  on  account  of  failing  health.  He  lin 
gered  under  a  painful  disease  for  ten  years,  and  died  in  1790, 
aged  sixty-four.  Jane,  his  widow,  died  in  1801,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-eight.  General  MaxwTell,  in  a  communication  to  the 
Legislature,  in  1779,  said  of  this  lady :  "  There  is  not  a 
Tory  that  passes  in  or  out  of  New  Jersey  ....  but  waits 
on  Mrs.  Chandler,  and  mostly  all  the  British  officers  going 
in  or  out  on  parole  or  exchange,  wait  on  her ;  in  short,  the 
Governor,  the  \vhole  of  the  Tories,  and  many  of  the  Whigs. 
I  think  she  would  be  much  better  off  in  New  York,  and  to 
take  her  baggage  with  her,  that  she  might  have  nothing  to 
come  back  for." 

One  of  his  daughters,  \vho  died  in  1806,  was  the  wrife  of 
General  E.  B.  Dayton  ;  another,  who  died  in  1847,  of  Bishop 


CHANDLER.  303 

Hobart  ;  and  the  youngest,  who  was  living  in  1857,  of  Wil 
liam  Dayton.  Dr.  Chandler  was  an  able  man.  He  "was 
large  and  portly,  of  fine  personal  appearance,  of  a  countenance 
expressive  of  high  intelligence,  though  considerably  marred  by 
the  small  pox,  of  an  uncommonly  fine  blue  eye,  of  a  strong, 
commanding  voice,  and  a  great  lover  of  music." 

CHANDLER,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  Jersey.  Son  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  B.  Chandler.  He  graduated  at  King's  (Columbia) 
College,  in  1774.  He  fled  in  January,  177G,  on  account  of 
his  loyalty  and  parentage,  but  returned  in  December,  and  re 
mained  until  the  evacuation  of  Elizabethtown  by  the  Royal 
troops,  January,  1777.  He  states  these  facts  in  a  memorial 
to  Lord  George  Germain,  in  1779,  and  adds,  that  General 
Skinner  gave  him  a  warrant  to  be  captain  in  the  New  Jersey 
Volunteers,  April,  1777,  but  that  he  had  received  no  pay  for 
two  years  ;  and  he  prays  his  Lordship's  recommendation  to 
Sir  Henry  Clinton,  for  a  commission.  He  died  in  England 
in  1784,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight. 

CHANDLER,  JOHN.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  "The 
honest  Refugee."  He  was  born  in  New  London,  Connecti- 
dut,  in  1720.  When  at  the  age  of  eleven  years,  his  father 
removed  to  Worcester,  where  he  held  the  principal  county 
offices.  To  these,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  succeeded,  lie 
was  a  Colonel  in  the  militia,  and  was  in  service  in  the  French 
war  ;  and  he  was  Sheriff,  Judge  of  Probate,  and  County 
Treasurer.  In  1774,  he  was  driven  from  his  family,  and 
took  refuge  in  Boston.  In  177G,  he  accompanied  the  Royal 
Army  to  Halifax  ;  and,  two  years  after,  was  proscribed  and 
banished.  liis  estate,  which  was  appraised  at  ,£36,190  1*., 
was  confiscated.  I  am  assured  that,  while  he  was  at  Boston, 
he  was  supported  for  a  considerable  time  by  the  sale  of  silver 
plate  sent  him  by  his  family  ;  and  that,  when  he  left  home, 
he  had  no  intention  of  quitting  the  country.  I  am  assured, 
also,  that  when  the  Whig  Commissioners  took  an  inventory  of 
his  household  furniture,  the  females  were  plundered  of  their 
very  clothing.  His  adherence  to  the  Crown,  and  his  depart 
ure  for  England,  seem  to  have  been  his  only  offences  ;  yet  he 


304  CHANDLER. 

was  treated  as  harshly  as  though  he  had  borne  arms  in  the 
field.  The  late  President  Dwight  spoke  of  Colonel  Chandler 
and  his  family,  as  distinguished  for  talents  and  virtue.  He 
represented  to  the  Commissioners  of  Loyalist  Claims,  that  his 
losses  of  real  and  personal  estate  were  £11,067  sterling,  and 
of  business,  offices,  &c.,  about  ,£6,000  sterling  more.  His 
statement  was  so  moderate  in  comparison  with  many  others 
of  the  same  nature,  that  he  was  allowed  the  full  amount ; 
and  was  afterwards  known  in  England  as  '*  the  honest  Refu 
gee."  Here,  he  is  spoken  of  as  having  been  "  cheerful  in 
temperament,  engaging  in  manner,  hospitable  as  a  citizen, 
friendly  and  kind  as  a  neighbor,  industrious  and  enterpris 
ing  as  a  merchant,  and  successful  as  a  man  of  business/' 
He  died  in  1800,  aged  eighty,  in  London.  In  1741,  he  mar- 
maried  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Colonel  Nathaniel  Paine,  who 
bore  him  four  children,  and  died  in  174~>.  His  second  wife 
was  Mary,  daughter  of  Colonel  Church,  of  Bristol,  Rhode  Isl 
and,  a  descendant  of  the  warrior  who  fought  King  Philip  — 
who  was  the  mother  of  thirteen  children,  and  who  died  at 
Worcester  in  1783.  The  notices  of  her  decease  speak  of  her 
as  an  excellent  woman.  Colonel  Chandler  was  buried  at  Isl 
ington  ;  an  iron  fence  and  a  slab  mark  the  spot  where  he  rests. 
His  portrait,  in  oil,  is  preserved  in  the  rooms  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester.  George  Bancroft,  the  dis 
tinguished  historian,  and  the  widow  of  the  late  Governor 
John  Davis,  of  Massachusetts,  are  Colonel  Chandler's  grand 
children. 

CHANDLER,  CLARK.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  Son 
of  Colonel  John.  He  wras  born  in  that  town  in  1743.  At 
first  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Register  of  Probate,  he 
became  joint  Register  with  Timothy  Paine.  In  1774  he  en 
tered  upon  the  town  Records  a  remonstrance  of  the  Loyalists, 
to  the  great  ano'er  of  the  Whigs,  who,  in  town  meeting,  voted 
that  he  should  then  and  there  ;'  obliterate,  erase,  or  otherwise 
deface,  the  said  recorded  protest,  and  the  names  thereunto  sub 
scribed,  so  that  it  may  become  illegible  and  unintelligible." 
A  vote  of  admonition  followed,  which  is  too  long  to  insert  in 


CHANDLER.  305 

tin's  work.  Mr.  Chandler,  as  required,  in  open  town  meeting, 
blotted  out  the  obnoxious  record,  and  the  work  of  the  pen  not 
being  satisfactory,  his  fingers  were  dipped  in  ink  and  drawn 
over  the  page. 

He  left  home  in  June,  1775,  and  went  to  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia,  and  thence  to  Canada,  lie  returned  in  September 
of  the  same  year,  and  surrendered  himself  a  prisoner  to  the 
common  jail.  Confinement  impaired  his  health,  and  he  was 
removed  to  his  mother's  house.  Finally,  he  was  allowed  to 
go  to  Lancaster,  on  giving  security  that  he  would  not  depart 
from  that  town.  He  returned  to  Worcester,  subsequently, 
and  engaged  in  trade.  His  person  was  small.  He  wore  bright 
red  small-clothes,  was  odd  and  singular,  and  often  provoked 
the  jeers  of  those  with  whom  he  mingled  ;  but,  apt  at  reply, 
44  he  paid  the  jokers  in  their  own  coin."  He  was  never  mar 
ried.  He  died  in  Worcester  in  1804. 

CHANDLER,  RUFUS.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  Fifth 
child  of  Colonel  John,  by  Mary  .Church,  his  second  wife.  He 
was  born  in  that  town  in  1747,  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
University  in  1766.  He  studied  law  with  his  uncle,  James 
Putnam,  and  opened  an  office  in  Worcester,  and  continued 
in  practice  there  until  September,  1774,  when  the  courts  were 
closed  by  popular  tumult.  He  was  one  of  the  barristers  and 
attornies  who  addressed  Hutchinson,  in  the  last-mentioned 
year.  He  went  to  Halifax  in  1776,  and  in  1778  was  pro 
scribed  and  banished.  His  mother  used  a  part  of  his  estate 
for  the  support  of  his  daughter  ;  but  the  remainder,  appraised 
at  .£820  (,Kv.  was  confiscated.  He  died  in  London  in  1823, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  and  was  buried  at  Islington,  by  the 
side  of  his  father.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Putnam  ;  his  only 
child,  who  bore  her  mother's  name,  married  Solomon  V-ose, 
of  Augusta,  Maine. 

CHANDLER,  GARDNER.  Of  Hard wich,  Massachusetts.  Son 
of  Colonel  John.  He  was  born  in  1749,  and  was  a  merchant 
in  that  town.  His  property  was  confiscated.  He  made  ac 
knowledgments  satisfactory  to  his  townsmen,  who  voted,  that, 
as  he  had  said  he  was  sorry  for  his  past  conduct,  they  "  would 
26* 


306  CHANDLER. 

treat  him  as  a  friend  and  neighbor  as  long  as  he  should  behave 
well."  He  removed  to  Brattleboro',  Vermont,  and  again  to 
Hinsdale,  New  Hampshire.  He  died  in  the  last-named  town. 
His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Brigadier  Timothy  Rug- 
gles. 

CHANDLER,  NATHANIEL.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 
Son  of  Colonel  John.  Pie  was  born  in  that  town  in  1750  ; 
graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1708  ;  and  commenced 
the  practice  of  the  law  in  Petersham.  He  was  one  of  the 
eighteen  country  gentlemen  who  addressed  Gage  on  his  depart 
ure,  in  1775.  In  1770  he  went  to  Halifax.  In  1778  he  was 
proscribed  and  banished.  Entering  the  British  service,  he  led 
a  corps  of  Volunteers.  He  returned  to  Petersham  in  1784, 
and  engaged  in  trade,  but  relinquished  business  on  account  of 
ill  health,  and  returned  to  Worcester.  Citizenship  was  restored 
in  1781),  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts.  He  was 
a  very  pleasant  companion,  and  a  favorite  singer  of  songs  in 
social  parties.  In  early  life  lie  was  a  pupil  of  John  Adams. 
His  brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bancroft,  wrote  that  "  he 
possessed  personal  manliness  and  beauty,"  that  "  he  was  en 
dowed  with  a  good  mind  and  a  lively  imagination,''  that  u  in 
disposition  he  was  cheerful,"  but  that  "  his  course  of  life 
drew  him  from  those  pursuits  which  might  have  rendered 
him  a  distinguished  character."  He  never  married.  He 
died  at  Worcester  in  1801. 

CHANDLER,  WILLIAM.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 
Eighth  child  of  Colonel  John.  He  was  born  in  that  town 
in  1752,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1772.  At 
that  time,  the  students  in  that  institution  were  ranked  accord 
ing  to  "  dignity  of  family  ; "  and  William  was  placed  in  the 
highest  class.  He  was  one  of  the  eighteen  country  gentle 
men  who  were  driven  from  their  homes  to  Boston,  and  who 
addressed  Gage  on  his  departure,  in  1775.  In  1770  he  went 
to  Halifax.  He  was  proscribed  under  the  Act  of  1778,  but 
returned  to  Massachusetts  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution. 
He  died  in  Worcester  in  1793.  Seven  pairs  of  silk  hose,  at 
fourteen  shillings;  plated  shoe-buckless,  six  shillings;  and  two 


CHANDLER.  307 

pairs  of  velvet  breeches,  are  among  the  articles  in  the  inven 
tory  of  his  estate. 

CIIANDLKR,  THOMAS.  Of  Cumberland  County,  "New 
Hampshire  Grants."  Son  of  John,  of  Woodstock,  Connecti 
cut,  and  uncle  of  John,  "the  honest  Refugee."  lie  was  born 
in  Woodstock  in  1709.  He  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
expedition  to  Cape  Breton,  in  1745  ;  and  about  the  year  17<>2, 
went  to  Walpole,  New  Hampshire,  intending  to  settle  there. 
In  1704,  he  removed  to  the  "  Grants,"  and  two  years  after 
obtained  for  himself  and  others  a  patent  of  the  township  of 
Chester.  As  the  "grant  was  from  the  Governor  of  New  York, 
he  was  held  to  be  a  "  Tory,"  on  that  account  alone.  lie,  and 
his  sons  John  and  Thomas,  were  allowed  their  choice  of  five 
hundred  acres  each,  as  the  first  three  settlers.  In  1775,  when 
the  difficulties  occurred  between  the  Whigs  and  Loyalists  at 
Westminster,  [see  IF.  Patterson,]  lie  was  Chief  Justice  of  the 
County  Court,  a.id  was  induced  by  Judge  Sabin,  an  associate, 
to  favor  the  New  York  or  Tory  side  of  the  controversy.  The 
Whigs  put  him  in  jail,  as  being  of  the  "  Court  party."  To 
wards  the  close  of  his  life  he  became  poor,  and  was  imprisoned 
for  debt.  He  died  in  Westminster  jail,  in  1785.  One  account 
is,  that  he  was  buried  within  its  limits;  another,  that  his  re 
mains  were  disposed  of  "  without  the  ceremony  of  a  funeral." 
His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Eliot,  of  the  lineage  of  John,  the 
"  Apostle  of  the  Indians." 

CHANDLER,  GARDIXKK.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 
Brother  of  Colonel  John.  He  was  born  in  Woodstock, 
Connecticut,  in  1723.  In  the  French  war  he  was  a  major, 
and  was  in  service  at  the  surrender  of  Fort  William  Henry. 
He  was  Treasurer  of  Worcester  County  eight  years,  and  suc 
ceeded  his  brother  John,  as  sheriff,  in  17* >2.  He  presented 
Gage  an  Address  in  behalf  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Com 
mon  Pleas,  in  1774;  and  was  compelled  by  a  Convention  of 
the  Committees  of  Correspondence  to  sign  a  "Recantation." 
In  time,  he  regained  the  confidence  of  the  community,  and 
was  suffered  to  live  undisturbed.  He  died  in  Worcester,  in 
1782.  His  first  wife  was  Hannah  Greene,  of  Providence, 


808  CHANDLER. 

Rhode  Island  ;  his  second,  Ann  Leonard,  of  Norton,  Massa 
chusetts. 

CHANDLER,  JOSHUA.  Of  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  Bar- 
rister-at-law.  He  was  born  in  Woodstock,  in  that  State,  in 
1728,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1747.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1775.  In  an  Address 
to  Governor  Franklin,  August  10,  1782,  he  said  :  "  After 
placing  the  most  unlimited  confidence  in  the  Royal  assurances 
we  have  at  different  times  received,  and  after  our  sacrifice  and 
loss  of  property,  we  should  feel  ourselves  but  ill  requited,  were 
we  to  be  abandoned  and  dismembered  from  the  empire  ;  but 
our  misery  and  distress  must  be  complete  should  we  become 
subjected  finally  to  a  Republican  system." 

His  property  in  and  near  New  Haven,  which  he  valued  at 
£30,000,  was  confiscated.  In  1783  he  went  to  Annapolis, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  thence  to  England,  to  obtain  compensation 
for  his  losses.  In  March,  1787,  he  crossed  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 
to  meet  the  Commissioners  on  Loyalist  Claims  at  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  and,  in  a  violent  snow-storm,  missing  the 
entrance  of  the  harbor,  was  wrecked  on  Musquash  Point, 
about  nine  miles  from  the  city.  He  himself  perished  by  a 
fall  from  a  precipice? ;  his  daughter  Elizabeth,  and  the  widow 
of  Major  Alexander  Grant,  died  of  cold  and  exhaustion.  The 
Hon.  Charles  W.  Upham,  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  is  a  grand 
son.  Mr.  Chandler's  son  Samuel  died  in  Nova  Scotia  about 
the  year  1840,  aged  eighty  ;  and  his  son  Charles  died  in  the 
same  Province  in  1853,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five.  His  daugh 
ter  Sarah  married  Hon.  Amos  Botsford. 

CHANDLER,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  Son 
of  Joshua.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1773.  He  con 
ducted  the  Royal  forces  to  that  town,  in  1770,  and  was  a  cap 
tain  in  a  Loyalist  corps.  At  the  peace  he  retired  to  Nova 
Scotia.  He  was  with  his  father  [see  Jodiua  Chandler]  in 
the  fatal  voyage  across  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  in  1787,  and  was 
crushed  to  death  between  the  vessel  and  the  rocks.  The  ill- 
fated  Nathan  Hale  was  a  class-mate. 

CHANDLER,   THOMAS.     Of  Connecticut.     Son    of  Joshua. 


CHANDLER.  —  CII AUNCEY.  309 

An  officer  in  a  Loyalist  corps.  Assisted  liis  brother  William 
in  guiding  the  Royal  forces  to  New  Haven  in  1779.  Went 
with  others  of  the  family  to  Nova  Scotia,  in  1783.  Married 
a  daughter  of  Major  Alexander  Grant,  whose  widow  perished 
with  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  notice,  in  1787. 

CHANDLER,  JOHN.  Of  Connecticut.  Son  of  Joshua. 
Went  to  Nova  Scotia  in  1783  ;  but  returned  to  his  native 
State,  and  died  at  New  Haven. 

CHAPMAN,  SAMUEL.  Of  Pennsylvania.  He  joined  the 
British  Army,  as  was  averred,  in  1770,  and  accepted  a  com 
mission.  He  was  captured  by  a  vessel-of-war,  and  carried 
to  Massachusetts.  In  1780,  the  President  of  the  Council  wrote 
to  ask  that,  having  been  attainted  of  treason  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  particularly  obnoxious  as  an  officer  of  a  corps  employed 
to  harass  the  inhabitants,  in  stealino-  horses  and  similar  of- 

o 

fences,  lie  might  not  be  exchanged  in  the  ordinary  way,  but 
be  kept  in  custody  until  an  opportunity  occurred  to  send  him 
home  to  "  he  dealt  with  according  to  his  demerits."  He  was 
tried  in  1781,  and  much  to  the  disappointment  of  the  "  vio 
lent  Whigs,''  acquitted. 

CHAPMAN,  JOHN.  Was  a  magistrate  in  New  Brunswick, 
and  died  at  Dorchester,  in  that  Colony,  in  1833,  aged  seventy- 
two. 

CHASE,  SIIADIIACTT.  Of  Massachusetts.  Was  proscribed 
and  banished  in  1778.  In  1782  he  was  an  ensign  in  De 
Lancey's  Third  Battalion.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  that 
city.  lie  received  half-pay.  His  death  occurred  in  New 
Brunswick  about  the  year  1829. 

CHAUXCEY,  JOSIAH,  and  ISAAC.  Of  Amherst,  Massachu 
setts.  The  first  was  charged  with  disaffection  to  the  popular 
cause,  examined  in  177"),  and  required  to  surrender  his  fire 
arms,  and  to  burn  all  the  commissions  he  had  ever  held  under 
the  Crown.  He  gave  up  the  arms,  which,  however,  the 
Whigs  soon  voted  to  return  to  him.  He  was  a  great-grand 
son  of  Charles  Chauncey,  President  of  Harvard  University. 
Isaac  was  advertised  by  the  Committee  of  that  town,  August, 


310  CHESNEY.  —  CHEW. 

1770,  as  convicted  of  being  notoriously  inimical  to  tbe  Amer 
ican  States,  and  as  having  disregarded  the  limits  which  they 
had  assigned  to  him. 

CHESNEY,  ALEXANDER.  Of  South  Carolina.  A  gentle 
man  of  family  and  fortune,  who  settled  in  that  Colony  about 
the  year  1758.  In  the  Revolution  he  bore  arms  on  the  side 
of  the  Crown.  He  left  several  children,  of  whom  were  Major- 
General  Chesney,  the  Oriental  explorer,  and  Captain  Charles 
Chesriey,  who  died  of  his  wounds  in  India.  Four  sons  of  the 
latter  have  been  distinguished  in  the  military  schools  of  Eng 
land  ;  and  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Pullan,  lives  (1859)  in  New  York. 

CHEW,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Was  Recorder  of 
Philadelphia,  Register  of  Wills,  and  Attorney-General,  and, 
finally,  Chief  Justice.  His  course  was  doubtful  in  the  early 
part  of  the  controversy,  and  he  wras  claimed  by  both  parties. 
In  1774,  Washington  dined  with  him.  The  same  year,  John 
Adams  records:  "Dined  with  Mr.  Chew,  Chief  Justice  of 

the  Province We  were  shown  into  a  grand  entry  and 

staircase,  and  into  an  elegant  and  magnificent  chamber,  until 

dinner.  About  four  o'clock  we  were  called  down 

The  furniture  was  all  rich.  Turtle,  flummery,  jellies,  sweet 
meats  of  twenty  sorts,  trifles,  ....  and  then  a  desert  of 
raisins,  almonds,  pears,  peaches.  Wines  most  excellent  and 
admirable.  I  drank  Madeira  at  a  great  rate,  and  found  no 
inconvenience  in  it/' 

In  177(3  his  opposition  to  the  Whigs  was  fixed,  and  he 
retired  to  private  life.  After  the  Revolution,  and  in  1790, 
he  was  appointed  President  of  the  High  Court  of  Errors  and 
Appeals,  and  held  the  office  until  the  tribunal  was  abolished 
in  1806.  He  died  in  1810,  aged  eighty-seven.  His  father, 
the  Hon.  Samuel  Chew,  was  of  the  religion  of  the  Friends, 
and  a  judge  and  physician.  William  Tilghman,  who  be 
came  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  read  law  in  his  office, 
as  did  Francis  Hopkinson,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence.  Judge  Chew's  daughter  Sophia  married  Henry 
Philips,  of  the  family  of  Philips  of  Bank  Hall,  county  of 
Lancaster,  England  ;  his  daughter  Henrietta  died  at  Phil- 


CHEW.  —  CHIPMAN.  311 

adelphia  in  1848,  aged  eighty-one.  The  wife  of  James  M. 
Mason,  late  Senator  in  Congress  from  Virginia,  is  a  grand 
daughter. 

CHEW,  WILLIAM.  He  was  a  lieutenant  in  a  corps  of  Loy 
alists.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
and  received  half-pay.  He  died  at  Fredericton  in  1812,  aged 
sixty-four. 

CHILD,  JOSEPH.  Of  the  New  York  Artillery.  In  1776 
he  was  tried  by  a.  court-martial  for  defrauding  Christopher 
Stetson  of  a  dollar  ;  for  drinking  damnation  to  all  Wlii^s  and 

&  o 

Sons  of  Liberty ;  and  for  profane  cursing  and  swearing.  He 
was  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  be  drummed  out  of  the 
army. 

CHIPMAN,  WARD.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  in 
1754,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1770.  In 
1775  he  was  driven  from  his  habitation  to  Boston,  and  was 
one  of  the  eighteen  country  gentlemen  who  that  year  were 
Addressers  of  Gage.  He  left  Boston  at  the  evacuation  in 
1776,  and  went  to  Halifax,  and  thence  to  England,  where 
he  was  allowed  a  pension.  Relinquishing  his  stipend  in  less 
than  a  year,  he  returned  to  his  native  country,  and  joined  the 
King's  troops  at  New  York.  During  the  remainder  of  the 
war  he  was  employed  in  the  military  department  and  Court, 
of  Admiralty.  In  1782  he  held  the  office  of  Deputy  Muster- 
master-General  of  the  Loyalist  forces.  In  1783  he  was  one 
of  the  fifty-five  who  petitioned  for  extensive  grants  of  lands 
in  Nova  Scotia.  [See  Abyah  Wdlard.~\  Removing  to  New- 
Brunswick,  he  attained  the  highest  honors.  He  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  Advocate-General,  Solicitor- 
General,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Member  of  the  Coun 
cil,  and  President  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Colony. 
He  died  at  Fredericton,  the  capital,  in  1824.  His  remains 
were  taken  to  St.  John,  where  a  tablet  recites  his  public 
services.  The  wife  of  the  Hon.  William  Gray,  of  Boston, 
was  his  sister.  Elizabeth,  his  widow,  died  at  St.  John  in 
1852,  in  her  eighty-sixth  year.  Ward,  his  only  child,  grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University  in  1805,  held  many  places  of 


812  CHRISTIE. 

trust,  was  finally  Chief  Justice  of  New  Brunswick,  and  died 
at  St.  John  in  1851,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year.  While  the  Prince 
of  "Wales  was  in  that  city,  August,  1860,  he  occupied  the 
Chipman  mansion. 

CHRISTIE,  JAMES,  JR.  Merchant,  of  Baltimore.  In  July, 
1775,  the  Committee  of  that  city  published  him  "  as  an  enemy 
to  his  country/'  for  sentiments  contained  in  a  letter  written 
by  him  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gabriel  Christie  of  the  British 
Army,  which  letter  had  been  intercepted  and  laid  before 
them.  Regarding  "  his  crime  of  a  dangerous  and  atrocious 
nature,''  the  Committee  determined  to  consult  their  delegates 
at  the  Continental  Congress,  and  meantime  to  keep  a  guard 
at  his  house  to  prevent  his  escape  ;  he  to  pay  the  expense 
thereof,  u  each  man  five  shillings  for  each  twenty-four  hours, 
and  the  officers  seven  shillings  and  sixpence."  This  Com 
mittee  was  large,  and  on  this  occasion  thirty-four  members 
were  present  ;  the  vote  against  Christie  was  unanimous.  He 
had  recently  lost  his  wife,  and  was  at  this  time  sick  and  con 
fined  to  his  bed.  Near  the  close  of  July,  however,  the  guard 
was  dismissed  by  a  vote  of  twenty-one  to  fourteen,  on  his 
parole  not  to  quit  the  Province  without  leave  of  the  Whig 
authorities,  and  to  abide  whatever  sentence  should  be  pro 
nounced  against  him,  with  six  gentlemen  as  sureties,  to  be 
bound  to  submit,  in  case  of  his  escape,  "  to  the  same  punish 
ment  as  would  have  been  inflicted  on  him  if  he  had  not  de 
parted." 

In  August,  his  case  was  taken  up  in  the  Maryland  Con 
vention,  when,  after  reading  his  memorial,  it  was  resolved 
that  "  he  ought  to  be  considered  as  an  enemy  to  America ;  " 
and  that  he  make  a  deposit  of  <£500  sterling  on  account 
of  his  proportion  of  the  expense  incurred  for  the  defence 
of  the  country ;  "  the  overplus,  if  any,  to  be  returned, 
after  a  reconciliation  shall  happily  be  effected  with  Great 
Britain." 

CHRISTIE,  Cx.  Of  Maryland.  He  adhered  to  the  Royal 
Army,  and  his  estate  was  confiscated.  But  the  Act  did  not 
apply  to  his  debts  ;  since,  after  the  Revolution,  he  recovered 


CHUBB.— CLARK.  313 

of  Colonel  Richard  Graves  of  that  State,  upwards  of  £1200 
sterling,  for  a  debt  due  him  before  the  war. 

CHUBB,  JOHN.  Of  Philadelphia.  Went  to  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  In 
171'")  he  was  a  member  of  the  Loyal  Artillery  Company.  He 
died  in  1822,  aged  sixty-nine.  His  son,  the  late  Henry  Chubb, 
was  proprietor  of  the  "St.  John  Courier"  many  years. 

CHURCH,  DOCTOR  BENJAMIN.  Of  Massachusetts.  Pro 
scribed  and  banished.  He  was  equally  distinguished  as  a 
scholar,  physician,  poet,  and  politician,  and  among  the  Whio;s 
he  stood  as  prominent,  and  was  as  active  and  as  popular,  as 
either  Warren,  Hancock,  or  Samuel  Adams.  He  graduated 
at  Harvard  University  in  1754.  About  1768  he  built  an 
elegant  house  at  Raynham,  which  occasioned  pecuniary  em 
barrassments,  and  it  has  been  conjectured  that  his  difficulties 
from  this  source  caused  his  defection  to  the  Whig  cause. 
However  this  may  be,  he  was  regarded  as  a  traitor,  having 
been  suspected  of  communicating  intelligence  to  Governor 
Gage,  and  of  receiving  a  reward  in  money  therefor.  His 
crime  was  subsequently  proved,  Washington  presiding,  when 
he  was  convicted  of  holding  a  criminal  correspondence  with 
the  enemy.  After  his  trial  by  a  court-martial,  he  wras  exam 
ined  before  the  Provincial  Congress,  of  which  body  he  was  a 
member,  and  though  he  made  an  ingenious  and  able  defence, 
was  expelled.  Allowed  to  leave  the  country,  finally,  he  em 
barked  for  the  West  Indies,  and  was  never  heard  of  after 
ward.  Sarah,  his  widow,  died  in  England  in  1788. 

CHYPHER,  JACOB.  See  [Jacob  Sypher.'] 
CLARK,  JAMES.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees 
of  that  city.  He  died  at  St.  John  in  1820,  aged  ninety. 
His  son  James  died  at  the  same  place  in  1803,  at  the  age  of 
forty-one. 

CLARK,  JOHN.  Of  Rhode  Island.  At  the  peace  he  set 
tled  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  He  arrived  at  that  city 
on  the  29th  of  June,  1788,  at  which  time  only  two  log 
huts  had  been  erected  on  its  site.  He  received,  the  same 

VOL,    I.  27 


314  CLARK. 

year,  the  grant  of  land.  The  Government  gave  him,  and 
every  other  grantee,  five  hundred  feet  of  very  ordinary 
boards  towards  covering  their  buildings.  City  lots  sold  in 
1783  from  two  to  twenty  dollars.  He  bought  one  for  the, 
price  of  executing  the  deed  of  conveyance,  and  "a  treat." 
Mr.  Clark  was  clerk  of  Trinity  Church  nearly  fifty  years. 
He  died  at  St.  John,  in  1853,  in  his  ninety-fourth  year,  leav 
ing  numerous  descendants. 

CLARK,  JOSEPH.  A  physician,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut. 
In  1776  he  fled  to  the  British  Army.  His  wife  and  children, 
whom  he  left  at  home,  were  sent  to  New  York,  where  he 
joined  them.  He  went  to  New  Brunswick,  accompanied  by 
his  family,  consisting  of  nine  persons,  in  1783,  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  medicine.  He  settled  at  Maugerville,  on  the 
river  St.  John,  and  was  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  the  county  of  Sunbury.  In  1799  he  visited  his 
friends  in  the  United  States.  He  was  a  physician,  in  busi 
ness,  for  quite  half  a  century.  He  died  at  Maugerville  in 
1813,  aged  seventy-nine ;  and  his  widow,  Isabella  Elizabeth, 
died  the  same  year,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one. 

CLARK,  JOSEPH.  Of  Stratford,  Connecticut.  Son  of  Dr. 
Joseph  Clark.  He  accompanied  the  family  to  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  became  a  resident  of  the  Colony.  He  died  in  New 
York,  while  on  a  visit  to  some  friends,  in  1828,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five. 

CLARK,  JOHN.  Of  New  Jersey.  Went  to  New  Bruns 
wick  in  1783.  Died  in  Wickham,  in  that  Province,  in 
1848. 

CLARK,  NEHEMIAH.  During  the  Revolution  he  was  a  sur 
geon  in  the  King's  service.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  that  city. 
He  received  half-pay.  He  died  at  Douglas,  in  that  Province, 
in  1825,  aged  eighty-six. 

CLARK,  SAMUEL.  Of  New  Jersey.  In  1780  he  was  de 
tected  in  conducting  an  illicit  trade  with  the  Royal  forces,  and 
committed  to  prison.  A  Loyalist  of  this  name  wras  the 
grantee  of  a  lot  in  the  city  of  St.  John,  in  1783,  and  died 
in  1804. 


CLARKE.  315 

CLARKE,  KEY.  WILLIAM.  Of  Dcclbam,  Massachusetts. 
Episcopal  minister.  He  was  son  of  Rev.  Peter  Clarke  of 
Danvers,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  Univer 
sity  in  1759.  After  ordination  in  England,  he  became  Rec 
tor  of  St.  Paul's  Church.  He  lived  in  peace  in  Dedham 
until  the  spring  of  1777,  when  he  was  sentenced  to  be  con 
fined  on  board  a  ship,  because  he  refused  "  to  acknowledge 
the  Independency  of  America,"  which,  he  adds,  "  was  con 
trary  to  the  sentiments  I  had  of  my  duty  to  my  king,  my 
country,  and  my  God."  Released,  and  permitted  to  depart, 
he  went  to  Rhode  Island,  thence  to  New  York,  thence  to 
Ireland,  thence  to  England.  In  1786,  he  wras  at  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  soon  after  removed  to  Digby.  He  re 
turned  to  the  United  States,  finally,  and  died  in  Quincy, 
Massachusetts,  in  1815.  His  wife  was  Mrs.  Dunbar,  a  widow. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Bailey  wrote,  at  the  time  of  the  marriage, 
she  is  "  a  little,  pretty,  delicate,  chattering  woman,  about 
twenty -eight,  as  unable  to  rough  it  as  himself." 

CLARKE,  JAMES.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Secretary  of  the  As 
sociation  of  Loyal  Refugees,  formed  at  Newport,  March,  1779. 
The  object  appears  in  a  paper  signed  by  himself,  namely,  to 
"  retaliate  upon  and  make  reprisal  against  the  inhabitants  of 
the  several  Provinces  in  America,  in  actual  rebellion  against 
their  Sovereign."  The  Association  was  formed  under  the 
sanction  of  the  British  Commander-in-Chief  in  Rhode  Island, 
who  gave  commissions  to  the  officers. 

To  execute  the  purpose  above  indicated,  they  conceived 
u  themselves  warranted,  by  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  to 
wage  war  upon  their  inhuman  persecutors,"  the  Rebels,  "  and 
to  use  every  means  in  their  power,  to  obtain  redress  and  com 
pensation  for  the  indignities  and  losses  they  had  suffered." 
The  document  concludes  with  an  invitation  to  all  who  had 
preserved  their  loyalty,  as  well  as  those  who  had  grown 
weary  of  Congressional  tyranny  and  paper  money,  and  who 
hated  French  frippery,  French  politics,  French  religion 
and  alliances,  to  join  with  them  in  their  endeavors  to  re 
cover  for  their  country  its  ancient  form  of  government.  He 


316  CLARKE. 

wrote  Governor  Franklin  twice  the  same  year,  giving  an  ac 
count  of  the  proceedings  and  success  of  the  Association.  In 
1783,  Mr.  Clarke  was  a  petitioner  for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia. 
[See  Abijah  Willard.]  He  was  at  Halifax  in  1797,  and  his 
wife,  Mary,  died  there  that  year. 

CLARKE,  RICHARD.  Of  Boston.  Merchant.  Graduated 
at  Harvard  University  in  1729.  He  and  his  sons  were  con 
signees  of  a  part  of  the  tea  destroyed  in  Boston  by  the  cele 
brated  "  Tea-Party,"  December,  1773.  A  great  number  of 
rioters  assembled  in  front  of  his  house,  attempted  to  force  an 
entrance,  broke  the  windows,  and  otherwise  damaged  it.  His 
family  removed.  One  of  the  consignees,  however,  fired  upon 
the  mob,  soon  after,  when  they  dispersed.  His  name  is  found 
among  the  Addressers  of  Gage.  The  Whigs  treated  him 
with  much  severity,  and  his  son  Isaac,  while  at  Plymouth  for 
the  collection  of  some  debts,  was  assaulted,  and  fled  at  mid 
night.  He  arrived  in  London,  December  24,  1775,  after  a 
passage  of  "  only  ?'  twenty-one  days  from  Boston.  The  Loy 
alist  Club,  for  a  weekly  dinner,  was  formed  early  in  the  next 
year,  and  he  was  one  of  the  original  members.  He  lived  with 
his  son-in-law,  Copley,  the  painter,  Leicester  Square.  He 
died  in  England  in  1795.  The  late  Lord  Lyndhurst  was  a 
grandson. 

CLARKE,  RICHARD  SAMUEL.  The  tablet,  which  covers  his 
remains,  records  that  he  was  minister  of  New  Milford,  Con 
necticut,  nineteen  years  ;  of  Gagetown,  New  Brunswick, 
twenty-five  years  ;  and  of  St.  Stephen,  New  Brunswick, 
thirteen  years :  in  all,  an  Episcopal  clergyman  for  fifty- 
seven  years.  He  was  the  first  Rector  of  the  Church  at  St. 
Stephen,  and  the  oldest  missionary  in  the  present  British 
Colonies.  He  was  much  beloved  by  the  people  of  his  charge, 
and  his  memory  is  still  cherished.  He  died  at  St.  Stephen, 
October  6,  1824,  aged  eighty-seven.  His  wife  Rebecca  died 
at  the  same  place,  May  7,  1816,  aged  sixty-nine.  His  only 
surviving  daughter,  Mary  Ann,  who  was  born  in  Connecticut 
before  his  removal,  and  who  was  never  married,  died  at  Gage- 
town,  New  Brunswick,  February,  1844,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three,  highly  and  deservedly  lamented. 


CLARKE. 

CLARKE,  WILLIAM.  lie  was  born  at  North  Kingston, 
Rhode  Island.  He  entered  the  service  of  the  Crown,  and 
was  a  captain  in  Colonel  Whiteman's  Regiment  of  Loyal 
New  Englanders.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1783, 
and  was  an  alderman  of  St.  John.  He  died  in  that  city  in 
1804. 

CLARKE,  REV.  RICHARD.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
Rector  of  St.  Philip's  Church.  Went  to  England,  and  was 
Rector  of  Hartley,  Kent.  Died  suddenly  in  England,  in 
1802,  in  his  eighty-third  year. 

CLARKE,  ISAAC  WINSLOW.  Of  Boston.  He  became  Com 
missary-General  of  Lower  Canada,  and  died  in  that  Colony 
in  1822,  after  he  had  embarked  for  England.  His  daughter 
Susan  married  Charles  Richard  Ogden,  Esq.,  Solicitor-General 
of  Lower  Canada,  in  1829. 

CLARKE,  JONATHAN.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  Richard  Clarke, 
Went  to  England  ;  was  a  member  of  the  Loyalist  Club,  Lon 
don,  1776  ;  had  lodgings  in  Brompton  Row  the  next  year. 
In  1778,  proscribed  and  banished.  After  the  Revolution  he 
was  in  Canada. 

CLARKE,  GEORGE.  Secretary  of  the  Colony  of  New  York. 
Went  to  England  and  died  there  in  1777.  He  was  of  the 

c3 

family  of  Clarke  of  Hyde  Hall,  Cheshire,  England. 

CLARKE,  ALEXANDER.  Died  at  Waterborough,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1825,  aged  eighty-two.  For  several  years  he  was 
Master  Armorer  in  the  Ordnance  Department  at  St.  John, 

CLARKE,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  Jersey.  A  noted  horse- 
thief.  It  was  computed  that,  between  1776  and  June,  1782, 
he  stole  upwards  of  one  hundred  valuable  horses  from  New 
Jersey,  which  he  sold  to  the  Royal  Army.  It  was  known 
that  he  came  very  frequently  within  the  American  lines,  but 
no  effort  of  scouts  and  sentries  to  seize  him  proved  successful. 
He  was  finally  written  to  as  by  accomplices,  as  is  said,  to  the 
effect  that  two  fine  horses  were  at  a  certain  place,  which  he 
could  carry  off'.  He  came,  as  suggested,  in  June,  1782,  and 
was  shot  down  dead  in  the  vicinity  of  Woodbridge,  New  Jer 
sey,  by  the  party  who  devised  the  stratagem. 
27* 


318  CLARKE.  -  CLEMENTS. 

CLARKE,  JOHN.  Died  at  Windsor,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1825, 
aged  eighty-four. 

GLAUS,  DANIEL.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  and  served  for  a  considerable  time  in  the  Indian  De 
partment  of  Canada,  under  his  brother-in-law,  Colonel  Guy 
Johnson.  Brant,  the  celebrated  Mohawk  chief,  entertained 
towards  him  sentiments  of  decided  personal  hostility.  His 
wife  died  in  Canada  in  1801.  William  Claus,  Deputy  Super 
intendent-General  of  Indian  Affairs,  was  his  son  ;  and  Brant, 
in  the  name  of  the  Five  Nations,  made  a  speech  of  condolence 
on  the  death  of  Mrs.  Claus,  on  the  24th  of  February  of  that 
year.  William,  deeply  affected  at  the  loss  of  his  mother,  was 
not  able  to  reply,  although  he  met  the  chiefs  in  council  ; 
but  he  afterwards  transmitted  a  written  answer. 

CLAYTON,  FRANCIS.  Of  Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  At 
first  a  Whig,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in 
1774,  and  a  Representative  in  the  House  of  Assembly  ;  but, 
in  the  course  of  the  war,  he  adhered  to  the  Crown,  and  aban 
doned  the  State.  He  returned  to  Wilmington  in  a  flag  of 
truce,  in  1782,  and  determined  to  hazard  a  trial  for  his  polit 
ical  offences.  He  was  owner  of  Clayton  Hall,  a  very  fertile 
plantation. 

CLEGHOIIN,  ROBERT.  Of  New  York.  At  the  peace,  ac 
companied  by  his  family  of  three  persons,  he  went  from  New 
York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted 
him  one  town  lot. 

CLEMENTSON,  SAMUEL.  Of  Boston.  Merchant.  Died  at 
Windsor,  England,  in  1782,  aged  forty-nine. 

CLEMENT,  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH.  Of  Boston.  He  held  a  com 
mission  in  the  Royal  service  during  the  war,  and  at  the  peace 
settled  in  New  Brunswick.  His  wife,  Mary,  died  at  St.  John 
in  1812. 

CLEMENTS,  PETER.  He  entered  the  service  of  the  Crown, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  a  captain  in  the  King's  Amer 
ican  Regiment.  In  1783  he  went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  received  half-pay. 
He  removed  to  the  county  of  York,  and  was  a  magistrate. 


CLINCH.  —  CLOWES.  319 

He  died  at  his  residence  on  the  river  St.  John,  near  Frederic- 
ton,  in  183;->,  at  the  age  of  ninety-four.  His  daughter  Cla 
rissa  died  in  1814,  aged  thirty-two.  His  daughter  Abigail 
Julia  married  Charles  R.  Hatheway,  Esq.,  of  St.  Andrew, 
New  Brunswick. 

CLINCH,  PETER.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Royal 
Fensible  Americans,  and  adjutant  of  the  corps.  He  settled 
in  New  Brunswick,  and  received  half-pay.  He  died  in  the 
county  of  Charlotte,  in  that  Province. 

CLOPPER,  JAMES.  He  was  a  lieutenant  in  a  corps  of  Loy 
alists,  and  at  the  close  of  the  contest  settled  in  New  Bruns 
wick,  enjoyed  half-pay,  and  was  a  magistrate  of  the  county 
of  York.  He  died  at  Fredericton,  in  1823,  aged  sixty-seven. 

CLOPPER,  GARRETT.  In  1782  he  was  an  ensign  in  the 
New  York  Volunteers,  and  quartermaster  of  the  corps.  He 
went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1783,  and  was  the 
grantee  of  a  city  lot.  He  received  half-pay,  was  sergeant-at- 
arms  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  a  magistrate  of  York 
County.  He  died  in  that  Province. 

CLO.SSEY,  SAMUEL.  Of  New  York.  Physician.  He  was 
a  native  of  Ireland.  Previous  to  his  emigration  to  America 
he  had  attained  eminence  in  his  profession,  not  only  by  suc 
cessful  practice  but  by  the  publication  of  a  work  entitled 
"  Observations  on  some  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Human  Body, 
chiefly  taken  from  the  Dissections  of  Morbid  Bodies."  While 
at  New  York,  he  was  chosen  to  the  Anatomical  Chair,  and  to 
the  Professorship  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  King's  (Columbia) 
College;  and,  upon  the  organization  of  a  Medical  School,  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Department  of  Anatomy.  He  re 
turned  to  his  native  country  in  consequence  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  died  there  soon  alter  his  arrival. 

CLOWES.  There  were  several  Loyalists  of  this  name  in 
New  York.  Gerardus  Clowes  was  a  captain,  and  Samuel 
and  John  were  lieutenants  in  De  Lancey's  Third  Battalion, 
and,  with  Timothy,  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at 
the  peace,  and  were  grantees  of  that  city.  The  three  who 
were  officers  received  half-pay.  Samuel,  John,  and  Timothy 


320  COCHRAN. 

lived  for  some  time  in  New  Brunswick,  but  their  fate  lias  not 
been  ascertained.  Gerardus,  who  was  a  major  of  militia  and 
a  magistrate,  and  resided  in  the  county  of  Sunbury,  was  killed 
in  1798  by  a  fall  from  his  horse.  In  1781  a  person  of  the 
name  of  Samuel  Clowes,  who  had  been  an  Addresser  of  Gov 
ernor  Robertson,  was  appointed  Clerk  and  Surrogate  of  Queen's 
County,  New  York,  and  died  at  Hempstead  in  the  year  1800, 
aged  seventy-six.  This  Samuel,  says  my  informant,  "  was  in 
office  a  large  part  of  his  life." 

COCHRAN,  CAPTAIN  JOHN.  Of  Portsmouth,  New  Hamp 
shire.  Son  of  James  Cochran,  and  a  native  of  Londonderry. 
Was  proscribed  and  banished.  The  "  Portsmouth  Journal," 
from  which  paper  I  derive  the  following,  states  that  the  account 
is  published  on  the  authority  of  his  daughter,  who  (November, 
1845),  is  still  living  in  that  town.  Captain  Cochran  led  a 
seafaring  life  in  his  younger  days,  and  sailed  out  of  Ports 
mouth  a  number  of  years,  as  a  ship-master,  with  brilliant  suc 
cess.  A  short  period  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution  broke 
out,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  fort  in  Ports 
mouth  harbor.  The  day  after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  he  and 
his  family  were  made  prisoners  of  war  by  a  company  of  volun 
teers  under  the  command  of  John  Sullivan,  afterwards  the 
distinguished  Major-General  Sullivan  of  the  Revolution,  Pres 
ident  of  New  Hampshire,  &c.  Captain  Cochran  and  his  fam 
ily  were  generously  liberated  on  parole  of  honor. 

Not  far  from  this  time,  Governor  Wentworth  took  refuge 
in  the  fort,  and  Captain  Cochran  attended  him  to  Boston.  In 
his  absence,  the  only  occupants  of  the  fort  were  Mrs.  Cochran, 
a  man  and  a  maid-servant,  and  four  children.  At  this  time 
all  vessels  passing  out  of  the  harbor  had  to  show  their  pass  at 
the  fort.  An  English  man-of-war  one  day  came  down  the 
river,  bound  out.  Mrs.  Cochran  directed  the  man  to  hail  the 
ship.  No  respect  was  paid  to  him.  Mrs.  Cochran  then  di 
rected  him  to  discharge  one  of  the  cannon.  The  terrified 
man  said:  "Ma'am,  I  have  but  one  eye,  and  can't  see  the 
touch-hole."  Taking  the  match,  the  heroic  lady  applied  it 
herself;  the  frigate  immediately  hove  to,  and  showing  that  all 


COCIIRAN.  321 

was  right,  was  permitted  to  proceed.  For  this  discharge  of 
duty  to  his  Majesty's  Government,  she  received  a  handsome 
reward. 

It  was  thought  by  some  of  the  enemies  of  Governor  Went- 
worth  that  he  was  still  secreted  at  the  fort,  after  he  had  left 
for  Boston.  A  party  one  day  entered  the  house  in  the  fort, 
(the  same  house  recently  occupied  by  Captain  Dimmick),  and 
asked  permission  of  Mrs.  Cochran  to  search  the  rooms  for  the 
Governor.  After  looking  up  stairs  in  vain,  they  asked  for  a 
light  to  examine  the  cellar.  "  O  yes,"  said  a  little  daughter 
of  Mrs.  Cochran,  "  I  will  light  you."  She  held  the  candle 
until  they  were  in  a  part  of  the  cellar  from  which  she  well 
knew  they  could  not  retreat  without  striking  their  heads 
against  low  beams,  when  the  roguish  girl  blew  the  light  out. 
As  she  anticipated,  they  began  to  bruise  themselves,  and  they 
swore  pretty  roundly.  The  miss  from  the  stairs,  in  an  elevated 
tone,  cried  out,  "  Have  you  got  him?"  This  arch  inquiry 
only  served  to  divide  their  curses  between  the  impediments 
to  their  progress  and  the  u  little  Tory." 

Captain  John  Cochran,  (who  was  a  cousin,  and  not  the 
father,  as  has  been  stated,  of  Lord  Admiral  Cochran)  imme 
diately  joined  the  British  in  Boston,  and,  as  it  was  believed, 
being  influenced  by  the  double  motive  of  gratitude  towards  a 
government  that  had  generously  noticed  and  promoted  him  to 
offices  of  honor,  trust,  and  emolument,  and  for  the  sake  of  re 
taining  a  valuable  stipend  from  the  Crown,  remained  with  the 
British  Army  during  the  war.  At  the  peace,  he  returned  to 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  lived  in  the  style  of  a  gentleman 
the  remainder  of  his  days,  and  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-five. 

Among  the  papers  of  the  Cochran  family,  we  find  the  fol 
lowing  letter,  written  from  England,  by  Governor  Wentworth, 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  to  Captain  John  Cochran.  It  held 
out  no  very  strong  inducements  for  Loyalists  to  take  refuge 
in  England :  — 

"I-IAMMKHSMITII,  May  6,  1783. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  I  received  your  kind  letter  by  Captain 
Dawson,  and  render  you  many  thanks  ;  be  assured  there  is 


322  COCHRAN. 

scarce  any  object  so  near  to  me  as  your  welfare,  which  I  should 
rejoice  to  promote.  As  to  my  advice,  at  this  distance  from  the 
scene  of  action,  it  can  only  be  conjectural.  However,  as  you 
ask  it,  I  can  only  say,  that  you  will  find  it  expedient  to  re 
move  to  and  settle  in  Nova  Scotia.  The  Commander-in- 
Chief  will  most  certainly  cause  your  pay  to  be  issued  there ; 
nor  do  I  conceive  there  is  any  probability  of  its  being  reduced, 
especially  as  Captain  Fenton's  is  suppressed  here,  among  other 
reasons,  as  it  is  said,  because  you  were  paid  in  America  and 
resident  there.  As  to  your  coming  here,  or  any  other  Loyal 
ist,  that  can  get  clams  and  potatoes  in  America,  they  most  cer 
tainly  would  regret  making  bad  worse.  It  would  be  needless 
for  me  to  enter  into  reasons  ;  the  fact  is  so,  and  you  will  do 
well  to  avoid  it.  It  is  the  advice  all  our  friends  will  be  wise 
to  follow  ;  hard  as  it  is,  they  that  are  fools  enough  to  try,  will 
find  it  harder  here.  I  hope  this  will  find  you  and  your  family 
in  good  health.  We  are  all  well.  Charles  is  grown  a  stout 
boy;  we  are  obliged  for  your  kind  inquiries  about  him.  My 
destination  is  quite  uncertain  ;  like  an  old  flapped  hat,  thrown 
off  the  top  of  an  house,  I  am  tumbling  over  and  over  in  the 
air,  and  God  only  knows  where  I  shall  finally  alight  and  set 
tle  to  rest.  It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  if  it  so  happens 
as  to  afford  me  any  means  to  add  to  the  comfort  of  those  I 
esteem  and  regard.  Be  assured,  my  dear  Sir,  in  that  descrip 
tion  you  would  have  my  early  attention.  Pray  present  Mrs. 
W.'s  and  my  compliments  to  your  family;  old  Mrs.  W.  also 
begs  to  joins  us.  Benning  has  been  nearly  four  years  a  cap 
tain,  and  not  being  able  to  establish  his  rank  as  he  expected, 
has  sold  out,  and  is  now  in  the  country ;  so  that  we  are  all 
seeking  something  to  do. 

"Adieu,  my  dear  friend,  and  always  believe  me  to  be,  with 
great  regard,  your  faithful  and  obedient  servant, 

"  J.  WEXTWORTH." 

COCHRAN,  JAMES.  Of  New  Hampshire.  His  father  in  his 
youth,  and  about  the  year  1730,  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
present  town  of  Belfast,  Maine.  His  family  subsequently  re 
moved  to  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire.  He  went  to  St. 


COCK. -COFFIN.  323 

John,  New  Brunswick,  where  he  closed  his  life  in  1794,  aged 
eighty-four  years. 

COCK,  CLARK.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  Professed 
himself  a  loyal  subject  in  1776.  Subsequently,  his  house 
was  robbed  of  a  considerable  amount  in  money,  and  of  goods 
to  the  value  of  X400,  in  1779.  Others  of  the  name  were 
quite  as  unfortunate.  Thus,  a  party  of  Rebels  from  Connec 
ticut  plundered  the  dwelling  of  William  Cock  of  goods  to 
the  amount  of  X140,  in  1778  ;  and  Abraham  Cock,  master 
of  the  schooner  Five  Brothers,  was  captured  early  in  1779. 

CODDINGTON,  AsuER.  Of  New  Jersey.  Went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  at  the  evacuation  of  New  York.  Was  a 
grantee  of  the  former  city,  and  of  a  lot  at  Long  Beach,  near 
General  Coffin's  land.  Removed  to  Maugerville,  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  died  there,  well  in  years,  about  1828.  A  son  was 
living  on  the  island  of  Grand  Menan  in  1848. 

COUNER,  JAMES.  In  1782  he  was  an  ensign  in  the  Second 
American  Regiment.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New. Brunswick, 
in  1783,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city,  and  a  magistrate  of 
the  county.  He  died  at  St.  John  in  1821,  aged  sixty-seven. 

COFFIELD,  THOMAS.  At  the  termination  of  the  war  he  was 
a  lieutenant  in  the  North  Carolina  Regiment.  As  he  was 
preparing  to  leave  New  York,  the  following  advertisement 
appeared  in  Rivington's  paper  of  September  10,  1783  :  — 

"  Whereas  Martha,  wife  of  Thomas  Coffield,  lieutenant  in 
the  North  Carolina  Regiment,  is  concealed  from  him,  (sup 
posed  by  her  mother,  Melissa  Carman  of  Hernpstead,)  to  keep 
her  from  going  with  her  loving  husband  to  Nova  Scotia,  or 
St.  Augustine,  the  public  are  cautioned,''  &c. 

The  "loving"  and  bereaved  lieutenant  arrived  at  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  before  the  close  of  1783,  and  received  the 
grant  of  a  city  lot. 

COFFIN,  NATHANIEL.  Of  Boston.  Last  Receiver-General 
and  Cashier  of  his  Majesty's  Customs  at  that  port.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Hutchinson,  1774,  and  of  Gage,  1775.  With  his 
family  of  three  persons  he  accompanied  the  Royal  Army  to 
Halifax  in  1776,  and  in  July  of  that  year  embarked  for  Eng- 


324  COFFIN. 

land  in  the  ship  Aston  Hall.  He  died  at  New  York  in  1780. 
His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  Barnes,  merchant 
of  Boston.  Notices  of  several  of  his  sons  follow.  I  do  not 
include  Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin,  Baronet,  who  died  at  Chel 
tenham,  England,  in  1840,  at  the  age  of  eighty  ;  because  he 
entered  the  British  Navy,  May,  1773,  or  before  the  Revolu 
tion. 

COFFIN,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  He  was  a  son  of  the  preced 
ing.  A  warm  and  decided  Loyalist,  he  volunteered  to  accom 
pany  the  Royal  Army  in  the  battle  of  Breed's  or  Bunker's 
Hill,  and  soon  after  obtained  a  commission.  He  rose  to  the 
rank  of  captain  in  the  Orange  Rangers  in  a  short  time,  and 
effecting  an  exchange  into  the  New  York  Volunteers,  went 
with  that  corps  to  Georgia,  in  1778.  At  the  battle  of  Sa 
vannah,  at  that  of  Hobkerk's  Hill,  and  in  the  action  of  Cross 
Creek,  near  Charleston,  and  on  various  other  occasions,  his 
conduct  won  the  admiration  of  his  superiors.  At  the  battle 
of  Eutaw  Springs,  which  he  opened  on  the  part  of  the  King's 
troops,  he  was  a  brevet  major,  and  his  gallantry  and  good 
judgment  attracted  the  notice  and  remark  of  General  Greene, 
who  commanded  the  Whig  forces.  He  retired  to  New  Bruns 
wick  at  the  close  of  the  contest,  with  the  rank  of  major,  and 
received  half-pay.  He  was  appointed  a  Colonel  in  the  British 
Army  in  1707  ;  a  Major-General  in  1803  ;  Lieutenant-General 
in  1801);  and  General  in  1810. 

In  the  war  of  1812,  he  raised  and  commanded  a  regiment, 
which  was  disbanded  in  1815.  He  served  in  several  civil 
offices ;  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Assemblv,  chief  mag 
istrate  of  King's  County,  and  a  member  of  the  Council.  Of 
the  latter  dignity  he  was  deprived,  in  1828,  in  consequence  of 
his  not  having  attended  the  sessions  of  the  Council  for  several 
previous  years.  Had  his  place  not  been  thus  vacated,  the 
government  of  the  Colony  would  have  devolved  upon  him  as 
senior  Councillor,  during  the  absence  of  Sir  Howard  Douglas. 
Though  sensitive,  the  personal  controversies  of  General  Coffin 
were  not  numerous.  But  he  fought  a  duel  with  Colonel  Camp 
bell  in  1783,  and  was  wounded  in  his  groin  ;  and  after  he  went 


COFFIN.  325 

to  New  Brunswick,  he  had  a  public  controversy  with  a  high 
functionary  of  that  Province,  which  was  long  and  bitter. 

His  estate  was  large  and  valuable,  as  will  be  seen  by  his 
own  description  of  it  in  1811,  when  he  offered  it  for  sale : 
"  The  Manor  of  Alwington,  in  the  Parish  of  Westfield, 
King's  County,  situated  twelve  miles  from  the  City  of  St. 
John  ;  containing  6000  acres,  well  covered  with  Pine  and 
Spruce  Spars,  great  quantities  of  the  finest  Shi})  Timber  and 
other  Hard-Wood  as  yet  unculled,  possessing  several  conven 
ient  places  for  Ship-Building;  an  excellent  Salmon  and  Her 
ring  Fishery  ;  a  large  Grist  and  Saw-Mill,  that  are  doing 
extensive  business  ;  four  well  settled  Farms,  each  having  ex 
tensive  meadows,  with  high  and  low  intervale  sufficient  to 
maintain  a  large  stock,  together  with  the  Farming  Utensils 
of  each.  The  greater  part  of  the  enclosures  are  under  Cedar 
fence,  with  a  navigable  River  running  through  the  centre  of 
the  estate.  The  well  known  local  advantage  of  this  property 
and  its  commanding  prospects  render  any  further  description 
unnecessary.  —  Terms  of  Payment  will  be  made  easy  to  the 
purchaser." 

In  his  dealings  he  was  exact ;  yet  to  the  poor  he  dispensed 
liberally  in  charity,  and  for  persons  in  his  neighborhood  de 
vised  useful  and  profi table  employment.  His  own  habits  were 
extremely  active  and  industrious.  He  was  fond  of  talking 
with  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  the  Revolution,  and  of 
the  prominent  Whigs  of  his  native  State.  "  Samuel  Adams 
used  to  tell  me,"  said  he,  "  4  Coffin,  you  must  not  leave  us  ; 
we  shall  have  warm  work,  and  want  you.' '  The  battle  of 
Breed's  Hill  was  regarded  by  General  Coffin  as  the  event 
which  controlled  everything  that  followed.  "  You  could  not 
have  succeeded  without  it,"  he  frequently  said  to  his  Amer 
ican  friends,  "  for  something  was  indispensable  in  the  then 
state  of  parties,  to  fix  men  somewhere,  and  to  show  the  plant 
ers  at  the  South,  that  Northern  people  were  really  in  earnest, 
and  could  and  would  —  fight.  That,  that  did  the  business  for 
vou."  While  the  British  claimed  and  held  Eastport,  General 
Coffin  seldom  visited  it.  He  would  sail  round  Moose  Island 

VOL.  i.  28 


326  COFFIN. 

—  as  he  ever  continued  to  call  that  town  —  in  his  sloop  Lib 
erty,  examine  the  movements  on  shore  through  his  spy-glass, 
and,  after  gratifying  his  curiosity,  return  to  St.  John.  After 
the  surrender  to  the  United  States,  in  1818,  he  came  to  Moose 
Island  frequently.  Notwithstanding  bis  choice  of  sides  in  the 
Revolution,  he  never  lost  his  interest  in  the  "  Old  Thirteen," 
and  he  remembered  that  he  was  "  Boston-born,"  from  first  to 
last.  "  I  would  give  more  for  one  pork-barrel  made  in  Mas 
sachusetts,"  was  one  of  his  many  sayings,  "  than  for  all  that 
have  been  made  in  New  Brunswick  since  its  settlement. 
Why,  sir,  I  have  now  some  of  the  former  which  are  thirty 
years  old,  but  I  can  hardly  make  the  Province  barrels  last 
through  one  season."  In  his  person,  General  Coffin  was  tall 
and  spare.  Until  well  advanced  in  years,  he  was  remarkably 
erect.  His  countenance  indicated  a  quick  and  sensitive  na 
ture.  His  manners  were  easy,  social,  and  polite.  His  con 
versation  was  animated  and  interesting,  frank,  and  without 
reserve.  He  died  at  his  seat,  King's  County,  in  1888,  aged 
eighty-seven.  Anne,  his  widow,  and  daughter  of  William 
Mathews,  of  South  Carolina,  died  at  Bath,  England,  in  1839, 
aged  seventy-four.  His  children  were  seven,  namely :  Guy 
Carleton,  who  (1838)  is  a  major  in  the  Royal  Artillery  ; 
Nathaniel,  who  died  young  ;  John  Townsend,  (1850)  a  post- 
captain  ;  and  William  Henry,  an  officer  in  the  Royal  Navy  ; 
Caroline :  Elizabeth,  who  married  Captain  Kirkland ;  and 
Anne,  who  married  Captain  Pearson. 

COFFIN,  NATHANIEL,  JR.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  Nathaniel, 
the  Cashier.  Was  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and 
a  Protester  against  the  Whigs  the  same  year.  He  was  at 
New  York  in  1783,  and  one  of  the  fifty-five  petitioners  for 
lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  [See  Abijali  Willard.~\  At  a  subse 
quent  period  he  was  appointed  Collector  of  the  Customs  at 
the  island  of  St.  Kitt's,  and  filled  that  station  for  thirty-four 
years.  He  died  in  London  in  1831,  aged  eighty-three. 

COFFIN,  WILLIAM.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  Nathaniel,  the 
Cashier.  An  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774  ;  went  to 
Halifax,  1776  ;  proscribed  and  banished,  1778.  The  last- 


COFFIN.— COIL.  327 

mentioned  year,  the  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey,  in  recording  a  visit 
at  Mr.  Inman's,  remarks  :  "  We  were  joined  at  supper  by 
Mrs.  Coffin  and  her  daughter  Policy.  Both  the  mother  and 
dughter  appeared  very  modest,  sensible,  and  engaging.  .  .  . 
T  quickly  perceived  that  Mrs.  Coffin  had  her  husband  (Mr. 
William  Coffin)  and  two  or  three  sons  in  the  British  service," 
&c.  After  the  peace,  he  was  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
and  a  merchant. 

COFFIN,  WILLIAM.  Of  Boston.  Died  in  that  town  in 
177").  Sir  Thomas  Aston  Coffin  was  a  grandson. 

cT5 

COFFIN,  WILLIAM,  JR.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  William.  He 
was  an  Addresser  of  Gage  in  1775,  and  accompanied  the 
Royal  Army  to  Halifax  the  next  year. 

COFFIX,  SIR  THOMAS  ASTOX,  Baronet.  Of  Boston.  Son 
of  William,  Jr.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
1772.  At  one  period  of  the  Revolution  he  was  Private  Secre 
tary  to  Sir  Guy  Carleton.  In  1804  he  was  Secretary  and 
Comptroller  of  Accounts  of  Lower  Canada.  At  another 
part  of  his  life,  he  was  Commissary-General  in  the  British 
Army.  He  died  in  London  in  1810,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six. 

COFFIN,  EBENEZER.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  William,  Jr.  He 
settled  in  South  Carolina,  and  was  a  merchant.  He  was  liv 
ing  in  1804,  married,  and  a  father. 

COFFIX,  NATHANIEL.  Of  Boston.  After  the  Revolution 
he  settled  in  Upper  Canada.  In  the  war  of  1812  he  served 
against  the  United  States.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Militia  of  Upper  Canada.  He  died 
at  Toronto  in  184(3,  aged  eighty. 

COFFIX,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Was  Assistant  Commissary- 
General  in  the  British  Army,  and  died  at  Quebec  in  1887, 
aged  seventy-eight. 

COGGESWELL,  JAMES.  Of  Rhode  Island.  In  1782  he  was 
an  officer  in  the  Superintendent  Department  established  at 
New  York.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick  ;  was  an 
officer  of  the  Customs;  died  there  in  1780. 

COIL,  -  — .  Of  North  Carolina.  Notorious  miscreant 
Taken  and  him  2;. 


328  COKE.  —  COLDEN. 

COKE,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  Jersey.  Stamp-master  of  the 
Colony.  He  applied  for  the  office  ;  but,  alarmed  by  the  pop 
ular  manifestations,  refused  to  execute  his  duties,  and  even  to 
take  charge  of  the  stamps.  After  his  resignation,  Governor 
Franklin  asked  General  Gage  if  he  could  have  the  aid  of 
military  force,  and  was  answered  in  the  affirmative. 

COLDEN,  CADWALLADER.  Of  New  York.  He  was  born 
in  Scotland,  and  came  to  America  in  1708,  and  was  a  success 
ful  practitioner  of  medicine  for  some  years.  In  1718,  Gov 
ernor  Hunter  having  become  his  friend,  he  settled  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  was  the  first  Surveyor-General  of  the 
Colony.  Besides  this  office,  he  filled  that  of  Master  in  Chan 
cery  ;  and,  on  the  arrival  of  Governor  Burnet,  in  1720,  he 
was  made  a  member  of  the  King's  Council.  Succeeding  to 
the  Presidency  of  the  Council,  he  administered  the  govern 
ment  in  1760.  Having  previous  to  the  last-mentioned  time 
purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Newburgh,  on 
the  Hudson,  he  retired  there  with  his  family  about  the  year 
1755.  In  1761  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
New  York,  and  held  the  commission  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  and  was  repeatedly  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  conse 
quence  of  the  death  or  absence  of  several  of  the  Governors. 
While  administering  the  government,  the  stamped  paper  came 
out,  and  was  placed  under  his  care.  A  multitude  of  several 
thousand  persons,  under  leaders,  assembled,  and  determined 
that  he  should  give  up  the  paper  to  be  destroyed.  Unless  he 
complied  with  their  wishes,  the  massacre  of  himself  and  adhe 
rents  was  threatened;  but  he  exhibited -great  firmness,  and 
prevented  them  from  accomplishing  their  design.  Yet  the 
mob  burned  his  effigy,  and  destroyed  his  carriages  in  his  sight. 
Governor  Try  on  relieved  him  from  active  political  duty  in 
1775,  and  he  retired  to  Long  Island,  where  he  had  a  seat, 
and  where  he  died  the  following  year,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 

O     v  £D  &         J 

eight.  He  was  hospitable  and  social,  and  gave  his  friends  a 
cordial  welcome.  The  political  troubles  of  his  country  caused 
him  pain  and  anguish.  These  troubles  he  long  predicted.  In 
science  Mr.  Golden  was  highly  distinguished.  Botany  and 


GOLDEN.  329 

astronomy  were  favorite  pursuits.  As  his  death  occurred 
previous  to  the  passage  of  the  Confiscation  Act,  his  estate  was 
inherited  by  his  children. 

COLDEX,  DAVID.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor.  The  farm  at  Spring  Hill,  Flushing,  Long  Isl 
and,  which  was  devised  to  him  by  his  father,  is  now  (1847) 
the  property  of  the  Hon.  Benjamin  W.  Strong.  Mr.  Col- 
den  went  to  England  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  died  there 
July  10,  1784.  His  estate,  of  two  hundred  and  forty  acres, 
was  sold  by  the  Commissioners  of  Confiscation,  the  year  of 
his  decease.  He  was  fond  of  retirement,  was  much  devoted 
to  scientific  pursuits,  and  maintained  a  correspondence  with 
the1  learned  of  his  time,  both  in  Europe  and  in  America. 
Ann,  his  widow,  daughter  of  John  Willet,  of  Flushing,  died 
in  August,  1785.  Four  daughters  and  one  son  survived  him. 
The  son,  Cadwallader  D.  Colden,  of  New  York,  (a  lad  in  the 
Revolution,)  was  a  lawyer  of  great  eminence,  and  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  efficient  promoters,  in  connection  with  De 
AYitt  Clinton,  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  other  works  of  exten 
sive  improvement.  He  died  at  Jersey  City,  February  7th, 
1884,  universally  lamented. 

COLDEN,  ALEXANDER.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  Lieutenant- 
Go  vernor  Colden.  He  was  Postmaster,  and  successor  of  his 
father  in  the  office  of  Surveyor-General.  He  died  in  1774, 
aged  fifty-eight.  His  eldest  daughter,  Alice,  married  Colonel 
Archibald  Hamilton  ;  the  second,  Major  John  Antill,  of  Skin 
ner's  Brigade  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers  ;  his  third,  Captain 
Anthony  Farrington,  of  London. 

COLDEX,  RICHARD  NICIIOLLS.  Of  New  York.  Son  of 
Alexander  Colden.  He  was  an  ensign  in  the  Royal  High 
landers,  in  170(> ;  but  left  the  army  prior  to  the  Revolution, 
and  was  appointed  Surveyor  and  Searcher  of  the  Customs  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  He  died  in  1777.  His  sons  were 
Alexander  and  Cadwallader. 

COLDEX,  CADWALLADER.     Of  New  York.     When,  in  June, 
177<>,  he  was  examined  and  committed  to  jail  in  Ulster  County, 
the  Committee  reported  that  he  said,  "  he  should  ever  oppose 
28* 


330  COLE.  -  CONNEL. 

independency  with  all  his  might,  and  wished  to  the  Lord  that 
his  name  might  be  entered  on  record  as  opposed  to  that  mat 
ter,  and  be  handed  down  to  latest  posterity."  I  find,  next, 
that  on  petition  of  Whigs,  in  1784,  he  was  permitted  by  law 
to  return  to  the  State. 

COLE,  EDWARD.  Of  Rhode  Island.  He  commanded  a 
regiment  under  Wolfe,  at  the  seige  of  Quebec,  in  1759  ;  and 
at  Havanna,  subsequently.  Adhering  to  the  Crown  in  the 
Revolution,  he  was  insulted,  and  his  furniture  and  pictures 
were  much  mutilated.  He  fled  to  the  British  lines,  and  was 
commissioned  as  Colonel.  He  settled  in  Nova  Scotia.  His 
pension  was  £150  per  annum.  He  died  well  in  years.  His 
brother  John  was  a  Whig,  and  was  appointed  Advocate- 
General  of  the  Court  of  Vice-Admiralty  when  the  govern 
ment  of  Rhode  Island  passed  to  the  popular  party. 

COLLINS,  DAVIS.  An  early  settler  of  St.  David,  New 
Brunswick.  Died  at  Tower  Hill,  August,  1837.  His  death 
was  caused  by  the  falling  of  a  tree. 

COMBS,  CAPTAIN  .  Probably  of  Maine.  At  Hali 
fax,  Nova  Scotia,  December,  1779.  The  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey 
wrote  to  Thomas  Brown  :  "  You  may  regard  him  as  a  person 
of  real  worth  and  unshaken  integrity,  who  has  resisted  all  the 
efforts  of  his  countrymen  to  seduce  and  subdue  him,  with 
amazing  fortitude,  and  his  honest  attachment  to  the  British 
Government  is  nearly  without  example." 

COMELY,  ROBERT.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Arrived  at  St.  John. 
New  Brunswick,  in  the  spring  of  1783,  in  the  ship  Union, 
He  died  at  Lancaster,  in  that  Province,  in  1838,  aged  eighty- 
three. 

COMPTON,  WILLIAM.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  died  at  St.  Martin's  in 
that  Province,  in  1804. 

CONKLIN,  -  — .  Captain  in  DeLancey's  First  Battal 
ion.  Killed  in  Georgia,  in  1780,  on  an  enterprise  to  disperse 
the  Whigs  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Ogechee. 

CONNEL,  JOHN.  Of  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania. 
Schoolmaster.  Joined  the  Royal  Army  in  Philadelphia, 


CONNER.  —  CONOLLY.  331 

and  accompanied  it  to  Xe\v  York.  In  1779,  lie  was  cap 
tured  on  board  of  the  British  privateer  Intrepid,  and  put 
in  prison. 

CONNER,  CONSTANT.  In  1782  lie  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Royal  Fencible  Americans.  He  went  to  Nova  Scotia  after 
the  war,  where  he  fought  a  duel  and  killed  his  antagonist. 
He  died  at  Halifax. 

CONOLLY,  JOHN.  He  was  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Penn 
sylvania,  and  was  bred  a  physician.  Before  the  Revolution 
lie  lived  at  or  near  Pittsburg,  and  was  in  correspondence  with 
Washington  on  matters  of  business.  In  1770  Washington,  on 
his  tour  to  Ohio,  invited  Doctor  Conolly  to  dine  with  him,  and 
said  he  was  "  a  very  sensible,  intelligent  man."  His  difficul 
ties  with  the  authorities  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1774,  occupy  con 
siderable  space  in  the  records  of  the  Council  of  that  Colony. 
In  the  course  of  these  difficulties,  and  while  he  was  at  the  head 
of  an  armed  party,  he  was  seized  and  imprisoned.  It  appears 
that  he  claimed  lands  under  Virginia,  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio, 
which,  it  was  contended  by  Pennsylvania,  Lord  Dunmore,  the 
Governor  of  the  former  Colony,  had  no  right  to  grant.  But 
he  and  John  Campbell  advertised  their  intention  of  laying  out 
a  town  there,  and  invited  settlers.  They  set  forth  the  beau 
ties  and  advantages  of  the  location  in  glowing  terms,  and  said, 
that  "  we  may  with  certainty  affirm,  that  it  (the  proposed 
town)  will,  in  a  short  time,  be  equalled  by  few  inland  places 
on  the  American  continent." 

As  the  controversy  ripened  to  war,  Conolly  became  active 
on  the  side  of  the  Crown,  and  in  1775  was  employed  by  Lord 
Dunmore,  who  authorized  him  to  raise  and  command  a  regi 
ment  of  Loyalists  and  Indians,  to  be  enlisted  in  the  Western 
country  and  Canada,  and  to  be  called  the  Loyal  Forresters. 
While  on  his  way  to  execute  this  design,  he  was  taken  pris 
oner.  His  papers  having  been  sent  to  Congress,  it  was  deter 
mined  to  retain  his  person.  He  wrote  to  Washington  several 
times,  but  the  Commander-in-Chief  declined  to  interfere,  and 
he  remained  a  captive  till  near  the  close  of  the  contest.  The 
Loyal  Forresters  were  in  service  in  1782,  and  probably  later. 


332  COPLEY. 

Always,  as  it  would  seem,  moving  in  some  doubtful  enterprise, 
we  hear  of  Colonel  Conolly  soon  after  the  peace,  and  about  the 
year  1788,  at  Detroit.  At  this  time  he  and  other  disaffected 
persons  held  conferences  with  some  of  the  prominent  citizens 
of  the  West  as  to  the  seizure  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  control 
of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  by  force.  The  precise 
plan,  and  the  degree  of  support  which  it  received,  are  not, 
perhaps,  known.  But  the  attention  of  Washington  was  at 
tracted  to  the  subject,  and  measures  were  taken  to  detect  and 
counteract  the  plot. 

COPLEY,  JOHN  SINGLETON.  Of  Boston.  An  eminent 
painter.  His  father,  "  Richard  Copley,  of  the  county  of 
Limerick,  who  emigrated  to  America,  and  became  of  Bos 
ton,  in  the  United  States,  married  Sarah,  younger  daughter 
of  John  Singleton."  The  subject  of  this  notice  was  born  in 
1738,  and  achieved  distinction  early.  John  Adams  wrote: 
"Copley  is  the  greatest  master  that  was  ever  in  America. 
His  portraits  far  exceed  West's."  He  himself  said  that  he 
had  as  many  commissions  in  Boston  as  he  could  execute. 
His  price  for  a  half-length  was  fourteen  guineas. 

In  1774  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  ;  and,  the 
same  year,  he  deposited  several  pictures  with  his  mother, 
arranged  his  affairs  generally,  and  sailed  for  Italy  by  way  of 
England,  with  the  design  of  three  years'  residence  abroad. 
In  1776  he  was  in  London,  and  a  member  of  the  Loyalist 
Club,  for  weekly  conversation  and  a  dinner.  He  subsequently 
resumed  his  profession,  and  increased  his  fame.  "  The  Death 
of  Chatham  ;  "  u  King  Charles  ordering  the  Arrest  of  the  Five 
Members  of  Parliament;"  and  "The  Death  of  Major  Peir- 
son,"  are  among  his  celebrated  works.  His  last  pictures,  it  is 
believed,  are  "  The  Resurrection,"  and  the  portrait  of  his  son. 
He  died  in  England,  September,  1815,  aged  seventy-eight. 
His  wife,  who  deceased  in  1836,  was  a  daughter  of  Richard 
Clarke,  one  of  the  Boston  consignees  of  the  tea.  One  son 
and  three  daughters  survived  him. 

His  son,  John  Singleton  Copley,  rose  to  eminence  as  a  jurist 
and  a  statesman.  He  was  a  native  of  Boston  ;  and  the  tradi- 


COOK.— COOKE.  333 

tion  is,  that,  born  a  few  weeks  after  the  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy, 
Senior,  "the  monthly  nurse  went  directly  from  Mrs.  Quincy 
to  attend  Mrs.  Copley."  Mr.  Copley  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1804,  was  made  Sergeant-at-law  in  1813,  and  became  a 
Judge  in  1818.  Later,  he  was  Solicitor  and  Attorney-Gen 
eral,  and  Master  of  the  Rolls.  In  1827,  on  the  retirement  of 
Lord  Eldon,  he  was  appointed  Lord  Chancellor  ;  and  the  same 
year  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Lyndlmrst.  He 
was  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  subsequently  ;  and 
held  the  office  of  Lord  Chancellor  a  second  and  third  time. 

Lord  Lyndlmrst  died  October,  1863,  in  his  ninety-second 
year.  By  his  first  wife,  Sarah  Geray,  daughter  of  Charles 
Brunsden,  and  widow  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thomas,  who 
fell  at  Waterloo,  he  was  the  father  of  Sarah  Elizabeth,  Susan 
Penelope,  and  Sophia  Clarence.  His  second  wife,  Georgiana, 
daughter  of  Lewis  Goldsmith,  bore  him  a  single  child,  Georgi 
ana  Susan.  His  Lordship's  sister,  widow  of  the  late  Gardner 
Greene,  of  Boston,  and  several  other  relatives  in  Massachu 
setts,  survive. 

COOK,  ABIEL.  Of  Little  Compton,  Rhode  Island.  He 
was  denounced  as  "  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and  the  liber 
ties  of  America,"  in  1775,  for  selling  sheep  to  go  on  board  of 
the  Swan,  British  ship-of-war,  at  Newport.  The  Whigs  took 
the  sheep  at  Forkland  Ferry,  and  voted  to  send  them  as  a 
present  to  the  army  at  Cambridge.  Cook  confessed  the  sale, 
and  avowed  his  intention  of  repeating  the  act  every  oppor 
tunity. 

COOKE,  REV.  SAMUEL,  D.  D.  Of  Shrewsbury,  New 
Jersey.  Episcopal  minister.  He  was  educated  at  Cam 
bridge,  England,  and  came  to  America  as  missionary  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  as  early,  probably,  as  1740.  In  1765  he  had  the 
care  of  the  churches  in  Shrewsbury,  Freehold,  and  Middle- 
town.  The  Revolution  divided  and  dispersed  his  flock,  and 
he  became  Chaplain  to  the  Guards.  In  1785  he  settled  at 
Frederic-ton,  the  capital  of  New  Brunswick,  as  the  first  Rec 
tor  of  the  Church  there.  In  1791  he  was  Commissary  to  the 


334  COOMBE.— COOPER. 

Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia.  He  was  drowned  in  crossing  the 
river  St.  John,  in  a  birch  canoe,  in  1795.  His  son,  who 
attempted  to  save  his  life,  perished  with  him.  His  wife  was 
Miss  Kearney,  of  Amboy,  New  Jersey.  Lydia,  his  fifth 
daughter,  died  at  Fredericton  in  1846,  aged  seventy-six  ;  and 
Isabella,  the  last  survivor  of  his  family,  and  widow  of  Colonel 
Harris  William  Hales,  died  at  the  same  city  in  1848. 

COOMBE,  REV.  THOMAS,  I).  D.  Of  Philadelphia.  He  was 
a  native  of  that  city,  and  graduated  at  the  College  there  in 
1766.  He  was  chosen  Assistant  Rector  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  and  St.  Peter's  in  1772.  Five  years  later,  he  was 
confined  for  disaffection  to  the  Whig  cause,  and  finally  or 
dered  to  be  sent  prisoner  to  Virginia.  In  1778  he  resigned 
his  Rectorship  and  went  to  England.  He  lived  some  time 
in  Ireland,  as  Chaplain  to  Lord  Carlisle  ;  was  in  charge  of  a 
parish  ;  a  Prebendary  of  Canterbury,  and  a  Chaplain  to  the 
King.  The  degree  of  D.  D.  was  conferred  by  Trinity  College, 
Dublin. 

COOMBS,  MICHAEL.  Of  Marblehead,  Massachusetts.  Mer 
chant.  Went  to  England  during  the  war,  returned  at  the 
peace  ;  died  at  Marblehead  in  1806,  aged  seventy-three. 

COOMBS,  JOHN.  Lieutenant  in  the  Second  Batallion  of 
New  Jersey  Volunteers.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1788, 
and  died  in  that  Province  in  1827,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
four. 

COOPER,  REV.  ROBERT.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
Episcopal  minister.  Rector  of  St.  Michael's ;  previously, 
however,  Rector  of  Prince  William's  Parish,  and  Assistant 
Rector  of  St.  Philip's.  The  Church  of  St.  Michael's,  with 
the  bells,  clock,  and  organ,  cost  about  forty  thousand  dollars, 
which,  if  we  consider  the  value  of  labor  and  materials,  a  cen 
tury  ago,  was  a  large  sum  ;  it  was  opened  for  worship  early 
in  1761.  Mr.  Cooper  officiated  until  the  Revolution.  The 
Vestry,  having  official  information  that  he  declined  to  take 
an  oath  pi-escribed  by  law,  met  on  the  morning  of  Sunday, 
June  30th,  1776,  and  resolved  to  omit  service  on  that  day, 
and  to  appoint  a  meeting  of  parishioners  on  Tuesday,  July  2d. 


COOPER.  —  CORNELL.  335 

He  refused  to  confer  with  his  flock,  on  the  ground  that  he 
considered  himself  already  dismissed  ;  and  the  pulpit  was  ac 
cordingly  declared  vacant.  He  soon  went  to  England,  and 
after  having  been  employed  as  a  joint  curate  and  lecturer, 
became  a  rector.  The  Government  gave  him  a  pension  of 
£100  per  annum,  as  a  Loyalist.  He  died  in  1812,  or  the 
year  following,  at  the  age  of  more  than  eighty. 

COOPER,  MYLES,  D.  D.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  Eng 
land,  and  coming  to  America  in  1762,  was  elected  President 
of  King's  College,  New  York,  the  year  following.  In  1771, 
he  advocated  the  appointment  of  Bishops  for  the  Colonies,  in 
an  Address  to  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia.  His  political 
opinions  rendered  his  resignation  of  that  office  necessary  as 
the  Revolutionary  storm  darkened,  and  in  1775  he  retired  to 
England.  He  died  at  Edinburgh  in  1785,  aged  about  fifty, 
having  previously  lived  there,  and  officiated  as  an  Episcopal 
clergyman.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  literary  distinction,  and 
published  several  works.  Four  lines  of  an  epitaph  written 
by  himself  are  :  — 

"  Here  lies  a  priest  of  English  blood, 
Who,  living,  liked  whate'er  was  good : 
Good  company,  good  wine,  good  name  ; 
Yet  never  hunted  after  fame." 

The  son  of  Mrs.  Washington  was  a  pupil  of  Doctor  Cooper 
at  King's  College  ;  and  Washington,  after  Mr.  Custis  left  the 
institution,  late  in  1773,  expressed  the  conviction,  that  he  had 
been  under  the  care  of  "  a  gentleman  capable  of  instructing 
him  in  every  branch  of  knowledge."  Young  Custis,  it  ap 
pears,  abandoned  his  studies,  and  married  against  Washing 
ton's  wish,  though  with  the  approbation  of  his  mother  and 
most  of  the  family  friends. 

CORNELL,  SAMUEL.  Of  Newbern.  A  member  of  the 
Council  of  North  Carolina.  In  1775  he  was  present  in 
council,  and  concurred  in  the  opinion  that  Whig  meetings 
were  objects  of  the  highest  detestation,  and  gave  his  advice  to 
Governor  Martin  to  issue  his  proclamation  to  inhibit  and  for 
bid  them.  Before  the  Declaration  of  Independence  he  went 


336  CORBIN.  —  CORSA. 

to  Europe,  but  left  his  family  at  Newborn.  During  the  war 
he  returned  to  New  York,  and  went  to  Newbern  in  a  flag  of 
truce,  but  was  forbidden  to  land,  unless  he  would  take  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  State  under  its  Whig  rulers.  This  he  re 
fused  to  do.  While  on  board  of  the  vessel  in  the  harbor,  he 
conveyed  his  estate  to  his  children  by  several  deeds  of  gift, 
and  duly  proved  and  registered  the  conveyances.  Having 
thus  arranged  his  affairs,  he  removed  his  family,  by  permission 
of  the  Executive  of  the  State,  to  New  York.  Subsequently 
this  property  was  confiscated  and  sold.  A  Mr.  Singleton  be 
came  the  purchaser  of  a  part  of  it,  and  the  portion  which  Mr. 
Cornell  had  given  to  one  of  his  daughters.  This  lady  claimed 
to  hold  under  her  father's  deed,  and  instituted  a  suit  to  eject 
Singleton  ;  but,  on  a  hearing  and  trial,  the  Confiscation  Act 
was  held  to  be  valid,  and  judgment  was  given  against  her. 
This  case,  of  course,  determined  that  all  the  deeds  of  gift 
were  void.  The  conveyances  were  made,  it  will  be  recol 
lected,  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  Confiscation  Act  of  North 
Carolina.  His  daughter  Hannah  married  Herman  Le  Roy, 
of  New  York,  in  1786. 

CORBIN,  JOHN  TAYLOE.  Of  Virginia.  Ordered  to  be 
confined  to  a  certain  part  of  the  county  of  Caroline,  by  the 
Virginia  Convention,  May,  1776,  and  to  give  bond  with  se 
curity,  in  the  sum  of  £  10, 000,  not  to  depart  the  territory 
assigned  to  him. 

CORHTE,  REV.  -  — .  Of  Delaware.  Episcopal  minister. 
Rector  of  St.  David's  Church.  Came  from  England  in  1770. 
Resigned,  because  of  the  opposition  to  his  praying  for  the 
King. 

COIIRIE,  JOHN.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Died  at 
Dumfries,  Scotland,  in  1791. 

CORSA,  COLONEL  ISAAC.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York. 
An  officer  in  the  French  war,  of  distinguished  merit.  In 
1776  he  was  arrested  by  order  of  Washington,  and  sent  pris 
oner  to  Middletown,  Connecticut;  but  was  released  on  parole. 
He  died  at  Flushing,  in  1805,  by  one  account,  in  1807,  by 
another,  in  his  eightieth  year,  "  beloved  as  a  man  and  a  Chris- 


COSKEL.  —  COULBOURNE.  337 

tian."  "  He  was  small  in  stature,  and  juvenile  in  appear 
ance."  Maria  Franklin,  his  only  child,  married  John  I.  Sta 
ples,  and  (1852)  is  still  living. 

COSKEL,  THOMAS.  A  Whig  soldier.  In  1778  he  was 
tried  on  a  charge  of  attempting  to  desert  to  the  Royal  side  ; 
and,  confessing  his  guilt,  was  sentenced  to  receive  one  hun 
dred  lashes. 

COSSTELL,  CHARLES  M.  Of  South  Carolina.  Was  an 
Assistant  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Colony.  He 
went  to  England. 

GOTHAM,  THOMAS.  Of  the  State  of  New  York.  Went 
to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  and  taught  school  there  nearly 
fifty  years.  He  died  in  1830. 

GOTTEN,  JAMES.  Of  North  Carolina.  Lieutenant-Colonel 
in  the  Militia.  A  "friend  of  Government,"  and  in  confiden 
tial  communication  with  Governor  Martin  after  he  had  taken 
refuge  on  board  a  ship-of-war.  He  was  summoned  before  the 
Provincial  Congress,  subsequently,  and  made  a  solemn  recan 
tation.  In  1776  he  was  on  the  Royal  side  at  Moore's  Creek 
Bridge,  but  "fled,"  it  is  said,  "at  the  first  fire."  In  1779 
he  was  attainted,  and  his  estate  was  confiscated. 

COTTON,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  John  Cotton,  the  celebrated 
pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  that  town,  \vas  his  great-grand 
father.  His  father,  Thomas  Cotton,  lived  first  in  Brookline, 
Massachusetts,  and  subsequently  in  Pomfret,  Connecticut. 
The  subject  of  this  notice  graduated  at  Harvard  University 
in  1747  ;  and  was,  I  suppose,  the  last  Royal  Deputy  Secre 
tary  of  Massachusetts.  He  died  at  Boston  in  1776.  His 
wife  was  Mary,  daughter  of  William  Dudley. 

COUGLE,  JAMES.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Was  a  captain  in  the 
First  Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  He  went  to  New 
Brunswick  at  the  close  of  the  contest,  and  died  at  Sussex 
Vale  in  1819,  aged  seventy-three. 

COULBOURNE,  CHARLES.  Of  Norfolk,  Virginia.  Was  a 
lieutenant  in  the  Loyal  American  Regiment,  and  quarter 
master  of  the  corps.  At  the  peace  he  settled  at  Digby,  Nova 
Scotia,  and  was  a  ship-master ;  but  returned  finally  to  his 

VOL.  i.  29 


COULSON.  —  COWDEN. 

native  State,  and  died  there.  His  wife  was  the  widow  of 
James  Bndd,  who  was  shot  by  a  party  of  "  cow-boys  "  at 
Rye. 

COULSOX,  THOMAS.  Merchant  and  ship-owner,  of  Fal- 
mouth,  now  Portland,  Maine.  "  Captain  Coulson,"  wrote 
the  good  Parson  Smith  in  his  Journal,  April  12,  1775,  "  is 
very  troublesome."  On  the  10th  of  May  following,  Coulson's 
house,  which  was  on  King  Street,  was  rifled  by  the  Whigs, 
under  Colonel  Thompson.  The  difficulties  with  him  caused 
the  burning  of  that  town  by  Mowatt.  It  appears  that,  con 
trary  to  the  agreement  of  the  Association  as  to  importation  of 
merchandise,  a  vessel  arrived  at  Falmouth  with  the  sails  and 
rigging  for  a  ship  which  he  was  fitting  for  sea.  These  arti 
cles,  it  was  determined  by  the  Whigs,  should  be  returned  to 
England,  together  with  some  goods  brought  in  the  same  ves 
sel.  Coulson  resolved  otherwise.  A  quarrel  ensued,  which 
continued  for  several  weeks.  The  Canseau  sloop-ofwar  ar 
rived  for  the  protection  of  himself  and  property,  and  mobs  and 
tumults  and  conflagration  were  the  final  results. 

Coulson  returned  to  England,  and  his  wife,  Dorcas,  daugh 
ter  of  the  elder  Dr.  Nathaniel  Coffin,  of  Falmouth,  soon  fol 
lowed  him.  Both  died  in  England  ;  Mrs.  Coulson  about  the 
year  1800. 

COURTNEY,  THOMAS,  RICHARD,  and  JAMES.  Of  Boston. 
The  first  was  an  Addresser  of  Gage  in  1775,  went  to  Halifax 
in  1776,  was  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778,  and  lost  £'2000 
in  consequence  of  his  loyalty.  The  three  removed  to  Shel- 
burne,  Nova  Scotia,  from  New  York,  at  the  peace  ;  Thomas, 
with  a  family  of  four,  and  four  servants.  They  built  largely 
at  their  new  home  ;  but  Shelburne  soon  declined,  and  Rich 
ard  went  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  James  to  Wil 
mington,  North  Carolina. 

COVERT,  ABRAHAM.  He  died  at  Maugerville,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1824,  aged  seventy-nine.  His  widow,  Phebe,  died 
at  the  same  place  in  1838,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven. 

COWDEN,  THOMAS.  Of  Fitchburg,  Mass.  He  was  known 
as  disaffected  to  the  popular  cause,  but  made  a  written  confes- 


COWLING.  — COX.  339 

sion,  and  applied  for  a  commission  in  the  army.  Washington 
and  Greene  communicated  his  application  to  the  Assembly  of 
Massachusetts,  and  the  case  was  referred  to  a  Committee  of 
both  Houses,  who  reported  adversely  ;  yet  said,  that  as  he  had 
given  "  some  "  evidence  of  reformation,  he  might  safely  and 
properly  be  released  from  confinement,  and  allowed  to  return 
to  his  family  and  estate. 

COWLING,  JOHN.  Of  Virginia.  At  the  peace,  accompa 
nied  by  his  family  of  three  persons,  and  by  one  servant,  he 
went  from  New  York  to  Shelbur,ne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the 
Crown  granted  him  one  town  and  one  water  lot.  His  losses 
in  consequence  of  his  loyalty  were  estimated  at  X5000,  and 
in  1783  he  was  poor.  He  opened  a  school,  and  was  assisted 
by  his  wife  Phebe,  who,  after  his  death,  kept  a  small  shop. 

Cox,  DANIEL.  Of  New  Jersey.  Was  a  member  of  his 
Majesty's  Council  of  that  Colony.  In  January,  1777,  his  ele 
gant  house  at  Trenton  Ferry  was  burned,  not  by  Whigs, 
but  by  persons  in  the  Royal  Army,  who,  in  their  progress 
•through  New  Jersey,  committed  almost  every  imaginable 
crime.  Through  his  agency,  principally,  it  is  believed  that 
the  Board  of  Refugees,  consisting  of  delegates  from  the  Loy 
alists  of  the  Colonies,  was  established  at  New  York  in  1779. 
Of  this  Board,  he  was  a  president ;  and  Christopher  Sower, 
an  highly  influential  Loyalist  of  Pennsylvania,  in  a  letter  of 
December  5th,  1779,  wrote  as  follows:  "The  Deputies  of 
the  Refugees  from  the  different  Provinces  meet  once  a  week. 
Daniel  Cox,  Esquire,  was  appointed  to  the  chair,  to  deprive 
him  of  the  opportunity  of  speaking,  as  he  has  the  gift  of  say 
ing  little  with  many  words."  In  the  year  last  mentioned,  he 
addressed  a  memorial  to  Lord  George  Germain,  to  which  Gov 
ernor  Franklin  called  his  Lordship's  attention.  He  went  to 
England,  and  was  followed  by  his  wife  and  children,  in  1785. 
Mrs.  Cox  was  daughter  of  the  distinguished  Dr.  John  Red 
man.  At  her  departure  her  parents  were  well-nigh  incon 
solable.  When,  by  the  death  of  her  sister,  in  1806,  she 
became  the  only  surviving  child,  she  came  across  the  ocean 
to  soothe  her  afflicted  father,  and  to  minister  to  the  wants  of 


340  COX. 

her  dying  mother.  Mr.  Cox's  property  in  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania  was  confiscated.  Sarah,  his  widow,  died  at 
Brighton,  England,  in  1843,  aged  ninety-one. 

Cox,  LEMUEL.  Of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  Near  the  close 
of  the  year  1775,  he  was  in  prison  at  Ipswich  for  his  attach 
ment  to  the  cause  of  the  Crown.  Mr.  Felt,  in  his  very  inter 
esting  work,  the  "  Annals  of  Salem,"  supposes  this  Lemuel 
Cox  to  have  been  the  chief  architect  of  Essex  Bridge  in  1788, 
and  who,  subsequently,  constructed  bridges  in  England  and 
Ireland.  "  In  1796,"  says  Mr.  Felt,  "  he  had  a  grant  of  1000 
acres  of  land  in  Maine  from  our  Legislature,  for  being  the 
first  inventor  of  a  machine  to  cut  card-wire,  the  first  projector 
of  a  powder-mill  in  Massachusetts,  the  first  suggestor  of  em 
ploying  prisoners  on  Castle  Island,  to  make  nails,  and  for 
various  other  discoveries  in  mechanical  arts." 

Cox,  FRANCIS.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Was  a  lieu 
tenant  in  the  regiment  commanded  by  Colonel  Mansfield,  and 
deserted  from  the  cam})  at  Cambridge,  in  June,  1775,  and 
left  the  service.  General  Ward  submitted  to  the  Provincial- 
Congress  the  propriety  of  making  him  a  public  example,  for, 
besides  his  own  desertion,  he  incited  his  men  to  follow  his 
example. 

Cox,  JOHN.  Of  Falmouth,  Maine.  Was  the  son  of  John 
Cox,  of  that  town,  and  married  Sarah  Proctor  in  1739,  who 
died  in  1761.  He  married  again  at  Falmouth  ;  and,  molested 
for  his  political  opinions,  removed  with  the  family  by  his  second 
wife,  to  Cornwallis,  Nova  Scotia,  about  the  year  1783.  The 
Crown  made  him  a  grant  of  land,  now,  (1848,)  as  I  under 
stand,  occupied  by  his  descendants,  and  known  as  Coxtown. 
He  married  a  third  time  ;  his  children  were  twenty  in 
number. 

Cox,  JAMES.  Of  Virginia.  Some  time  in  the  war,  he  was 
at  Newtown,  New  York.  At  the  peace,  accompanied  by  his 
family  of  four  persons,  and  by  four  servants,  he  went  from 
New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown 
granted  him  one  town  lot.  His  losses  in  consequence  of  his 
loyalty  were  estimated  at  £3000.  He  died  at  New  York. 


COXE.  -  COY.  341 

COXK,  TENCH.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Son  of  William  Coxe, 
of  New  Jersey.  His  loyalty  is  disputed,  as  I  understand,  on 
two  grounds.  First,  because,  after  he  was  attainted  of  trea 
son,  he  surrendered  himself,  and  was  discharged  ;  second, 
because,  after  the  organization  of  the  Federal  Government, 
he  was  employed  by  Washington  and  Hamilton.  These  facts 
prove  nothing  either  way.  The  accusation  against  him  was 
that,  on  the  approach  of  the  Royal  Army,  he  went  from  Phil 
adelphia  to  join  it,  and  marched  into  the  city  under  its  ban 
ners.  Of  this,  he  was  legally  acquitted;  but,  unless  I  am 
misinformed,  his  sympathies  were  on  the  side  of  the  Crown. 
As  relates  to  the  other  point,  I  cite  a  single  incident  to  show 
the  degree  of  confidence  reposed  in  him. 

In  February,  1795,  it  became  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
temporary  performance  of  the  duties  of  Comptroller,  and  the 
President  consulted  Hamilton,  who,  in  reply,  objected  to 
Coxe  (then  Commissioner  of  the  Revenue)  because  his  ap 
pointment  "  could  not  fail,  for  strong  reasons,  to  be  unpleasant 
to  Mr.  Wolcott,"  (Secretary  of  the  Treasury)  "  and  because 
there  is  real  danger  that  Mr.  Coxe  would  first  perplex  and 
embarrass,  and  afterwards  misrepresent  and  calumniate." 

He  published  an  "  Address  on  American  Manufactures  ;  " 
an  "  Inquiry  on  the  Principles  of  a  Commercial  System  for 
the  United  States  ;  "  an  "  Examination  of  Lord  Sheffield's 
Observations  ;  "  a  "  View  of  the  United  States  ;  "  "  Thoughts 
on  Naval  Power,  and  the  Encouragement  of  Commerce  and 
Manufactures  ;  "  "  Memoir  on  the  Cultivation,  Trade,  and 
Manufacture  of  Cotton  ; "  "  Memoir  on  a  Navigation  Act  ;  " 
and  "Statement  of  the  Arts  and  Manufactures  of  the  United 
States."  He  died  at  Philadelphia,  in  1824,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-eight.  Rebecca,  his  wife,  died  in  the  same  city  in  180b\ 

COYLK,  FRANCIS.  Of  New  York.  Went  to  Shelburne, 
Nova  Scotia,  at  the  peace,  and  in  the  excitement  of  the  time, 
paid  a  guinea  a  foot  for  a  house-lot.  A  few  years  after,  he 
could  hardly  have  sold  his  property  at  one  tenth  of  its  cost. 
He  died  at  Shelburne,  leaving  a  family. 

COY,  AMASA.     Of  Connecticut.     He  went  to  New  Bruns- 
29* 


342  COZENS.  —  CROFT. 

wick  in  1783.  He  died  at  Fredericton  in  1838,  aged  eighty- 
on  e. 

COZENS,  DANIEL.  Captain  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers. 
Killed  in  1779,  during  the  siege  of  Savannah. 

CRANE,  JONATHAN.  Settled  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  was  a 
maoistrate,  a  colonel  in  the  militia,  and  a  member  of  the 
Assembly.  Coming  out  of  the  Government-House  one  day, 
John  Howe  asked  him  —  "  What  is  going  on  ?  "  "  Oh,"  re 
plied  Crane,  "  't  is  all  a  game  of  whist  ;  the  honors  are  di 
vided,  and  nothing  is  to  be  got  except  by  tricks"  His  son 
William,  who  died  rich,  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly, 
Speaker  of  that  body,  and  a  delegate  of  the  Province  to 
England.  His  widow,  Rebecca,  died  in  Horton,  in  that, 
Province,  in  1841,  aged  eighty-eight. 

CHANNELL,  BARTHOLOMEW.  Of  New  York.  He  was  a 
public  notary  in  the  city,  in  1782.  The  year  following  he 
announced  his  intention  of  removing  to  Nova  Scotia,  and 
was  one  of  the  fifty-five  petitioners  for  lands  in  that  Colony. 
He  arrived  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  before  the  close  of 
1783,  and  received  the  grant  of  a  city  lot.  He  commenced 
business  as  a  merchant.  In  1785  he  was  Clerk  of  the  Com 
mon  Council. 

CREIGHTON,  JAMES,  and  ALEXANDER.  The  first,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Police  Department  of  Long  Island,  Newr  York, 
in  1782  ;  the  other,  of  Georgia,  and  attainted  of  treason,  in 
1778.  A  person  named  James  Creighton  died  at  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  in  1813,  aged  eighty-one. 

CROCKER,  JOSIAH.  Of  Barnstable,  Massachusetts.  Son 
of  Cornelius  Crocker.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University 
in  17G5.  He  taught  school  in  Barnstable  a  short  time  ;  "  but, 
on  account  of  his  feeble  health  and  Tory  proclivities/'  took  but 
little  part  in  public  affairs.  He  died  of  consumption  in  1780, 
in  his  thirty-sixth  year.  His  wife  was  Deborah,  daughter  of 
Hon.  Daniel  Davis.  His  five  children  were  Robert,  Uriel, 
Josiah,  Deborah  and  Mehitable. 

CROFT,  FREDERICK.  Of  North  Carolina.  In  the  battle  at 
Cross  Creek,  1776,  he  "  shot  Captain  Dent  in  cold  blood." 


CROMWELL.  — CRUGER.  343 

lie  was  made  prisoner,  confined  in  Halifax  jail,  and  sent, 
finally,  to  Maryland. 

CROMWELL,  JOSIAII.  He  died  at  Portland,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1803. 

CROSS,  WILLIAM.  He  went  from  New  York  to  Nova 
Scotia,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  died  at  Annapolis  Royal, 
in  1834,  aged  eighty-three. 

CROSSING,  WILLIAM.  Of  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  A 
noted  marauder  and  robber.  He  was  employed  at  first  as 
a  pilot  of  the  Royal  troops,  but,  in  1778,  seems  to  have  be- 
lon<>'ed  to  Wiohtman's  motley  regiment.  The  account  of  him 

O  ^  «/  O 

is,  that  he  plundered  women  of  their  jewelry  and  fancy  arti 
cles  of  dress  ;  that  he  robbed  and  burned  houses  ;  and  that 
he  carried  oft'  Whio-s  in  mere  wantonness.  He  was  taken 

O 

prisoner  in  the  year  above  mentioned,  and  confined  at  Provi 
dence. 

CROW,  CHARLES.  Of  Boston.  In  September,  1777,  he 
was  seized  in  that  town,  fastened  to  a  cart  and  carried  to 
Roxbury,  where  another  party  conveyed  him  to  Dedham. 
The  object  was  to  "  cart  him  "  through  every  town  to  the 

J  O  */ 

Rhode  Island  line,  and  compel  him  to  join  the  British. 

CROW,  JONATHAN.  Of  Massachusetts.  Was  buried  in 
Trinity  Church-yard,  New  York,  in  October,  1780. 

CROWELL,  JOSEPH.  Was  a  captain  in  the  First  Battalion 
of  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick, 
received  half-pay,  and  died  at  Carleton  in  that  Colony.  His 
son  Thomas  died  at  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1845,  aged 
eighty.  His  only  daughter  married  Luther  Wetmore. 

CRUGER,  JOHN  HARRIS.  Of  New  York.  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Commandant  of  DeLancey's  First  Battalion.  He 
succeeded  his  father,  Henry  Cruger,  as  member  of  the  Coun 
cil  of  the  Colony  ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution, 
held,  beside,  the  office  of  Chamberlain  of  the  City.  He  en 
tered  the  military  service  in  1777,  and  from  1779  to  the 
peace,  few  Loyalist  officers  performed  more  responsible  or 
arduous  duty.  We  hear  of  him  in  the  last-mentioned  year, 
as  made  prisoner  at  a  dinner-party  in  Georgia,  on  the  King's 


344  CRUGER. 

birthday,  but  as  soon  exchanged ;  as  in  command  of  the  gar 
rison  at  Sunbuiy,  but  ordered  to  evacuate  the  post  and  repair 
to  Savannah,  with  all  possible  haste.  In  July,  1780,  he  was 
at  Ninety-Six,  when,  in  the  condition  of  affairs,  he  was  di 
rected  to  send  a  part  of  his  force  to  Camden.  In  August, 
Lord  Cornwallis  wrote  to  him  to  execute  all  in  his  district  who 
had  borne  arms  on  the  side  of  the  Crown,  and  who  afterwards 
fought  with  the  Whigs  ;  and  that  he  obeyed  appears  from  his 
own  letter  to  Major  Ferguson,  in  which  he  said  that  he  had 
fallen  in  with  the  Rebels,  taken  most  of  their  plunder,  killed 
a  great  number,  had  hung  several  others,  and  designed  to  hang 
many  more.  In  September,  he  made  a  forced  march  to  Au 
gusta,  to  relieve  Colonel  Browne,  and  arrived  just  in  time  to 
save  him.  In  1781,  Lord  Rawdon  was  sorely  pressed  in  South 
Carolina,  and  sent  repeated  expresses  to  Cruger  to  abandon 
Ninety-Six,  to  join  Browne,  assume  command  of  the  whole 
force,  and  act  at  his  discretion.  But  not  one  of  the  messen 
gers  reached  him,  and  he  was  left  in  ignorance  of  his  Lord 
ship's  situation.  While  completing  the  defences  by  throwing 
up  a  bank  of  earth,  building  block-houses,  and  the  like,  Gen 
eral  Greene  encamped  in  a  wood  within  cannon  shot  of  the  vil 
lage,  and  summoned  him  to  surrender.  Cruger  replied  that 
he  should  maintain  the  post  to  the  last.  The  Whig  attempted 
to  burn  the  barracks  by  shooting  African  arrows  ;  the  Loyal 
ist  defeated  the  plan  by  directing  all  the  buildings  to  be  un- 
rooffed,  which  exposed  officers  and  men  to  the  night  air  and 
to  rains  the  remainder  of  the  siege.  Greene  made  an  assault, 
which,  after  a  terrible  conflict,  failed.  The  besieged  suffered 
much  for  water;  the  negroes  went  out  naked  at  night,  that 
they  might  not  be  distinguished  from  the  trees,  and  brought 
in  a  scanty  supply.  During  these  trying  scenes,  Cruger's 
courage,  skill,  and  fertility  of  resource,  drew  commendation 
even  from  his  foes.  Without  relief,  he  knew  that  he  must  sub 
mit  at  last ;  when  almost  in  despair,  an  American  lady  who  had 
lately  married  one  of  his  officers,  (and  who,  it  is  related,  was 
bribed  by  a  considerable  sum  of  money,)  arrived  with  a  letter 
assuring  him  that  Rawdon  was  near  with  a  reinforcement. 


CRUGER.  345 

Mrs.  Cruger  was  with  her  husband  during  the  perils  of  his 
command  at  Ninety-Six.  When  General  Greene  approached 
that  post,  he  found  her  and  the  wife  of  Major  Green  in  a 
farm-house,  and  not  only  allowed  them  to  remain,  but  placed 
a  guard  to  protect  them.  Indeed,  among  the  last  acts  of  the 
General,  though  defeated  and  worn  with  care,  was  a  leave- 
taking  of  these  ladies,  and  measures  to  ensure  their  continued 
safety.  At  his  departure,  he  left  the  guard  ;  and  Cruger,  as 
generous  as  his  antagonist,  sent  it  with  his  passport,  to  rejoin 
the  Whig  Army  on  the  retreat.  Nay,  more;  Mrs.  Cruger 
pointed  out  the  route  of  the  retiring  "  Rebels"  to  a  return 
ing  scouting  party,  that,  absent  some  days,  were  unconscious 
of  the  condition  of  things,  and  so  were  on  their  way  to  the 
supposed  Whig  camp  ;  and  they,  too,  reached  their  compan 
ions. 

The  dreadful  civil  war,  which  desolated  South  Carolina, 
"  began  at  Ninety-Six,"  and  many  who  had  incurred  the 
hate  of  the  Whigs  were  in  garrison  when  besieged  by 
Greene,  and  fought  in  fear  of  the  halter.  Rawdon  decided 
to  evacuate  the  post,  and  moving  himself  toward  the  Con- 
garee,  ordered  Cruger  to  protect  the  Loyalists  and  to  escort 
such  as  wished  to  remove  to  a  place  of  safety.  Most,  appre 
hending  a  general  slaughter,  determined  to  abandon  their 
homes.  "  Melancholy  was  the  spectacle  that  followed  ;  troop 
ing  slowly  and  gloomily  in  the  van  and  rear  of  the  British 
Army,  went  the  families  of  this  unhappy  faction.  For  days 
the  roads  from  Ninety-Six  were  crowded  with  the  wretched 
cavalcade  ;  men,  women,  children,  and  slaves,  with  cattle  and 
wagons"  —all  journeying  to  the  seaboard. 

In  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  Colonel  Cruger  occupied 
the  centre  of  the  British  line,  and  was  distinguished.  On 
leaving  Charleston,  July  1782,  the  inhabitants  presented  him 
an  Address.  In  June,  1783,  his  furniture  was  sold  at  auction 
at  his  house,  Hanover  Square,  New  York;  and  soon  after  he 
embarked  for  England.  His  estate  was  confiscated,  and  he 
remained  in  exile.  He  died  in  London,  in  1807,  aged  sixty- 
nine.  Mrs.  Cruger,  who  died  at  Chelsea,  England,  in  1822. 


346  CRUGER.  —  CUNNINGHAM. 

at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  was  a  daughter  of  the  senior 
Oliver  DeLancey,  and  was  at  her  father's  house  in  1777, 
when  it  was  burned  at  night  by  a  party  of  Whigs.  It  was  in 
the  counting-house  of  Colonel  Cruger's  "  brother  Nicholas, 
at  St.  Croix,  that  Alexander  Hamilton  commenced  his  mer 
cantile  clerkship.*'  His  brother,  Henry  Cruger,  who  died  in 
New  York  in  1827,  aged  eighty-eight,  was  a  member  of  Par 
liament  for  Bristol,  and  a  colleague  of  Burke.  His  sister 
Mary  married  Jacob  Walton ;  his  sister  Elizabeth  married 
Peter  Van  Schaack. 

CRUGER,  JOHN.  Of  New  York.  In  1775  lie  was  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  during  the  recess  that  year, 
with  thirteen  other  members  of  the  Ministerial  party,  ad 
dressed  a  letter  to  General  Gage  on  the  alarming  state  of 
public  affairs.  This  communication  is  dated  May  5th,  on 
which  day  two  members  of  the  Council  of  New  York  sailed 
for  England.  When,  in  17G9,  he  was  elected  to  the  Assem 
bly,  the  success  of  his  party  was  deemed  a  victory  of  the 
Episcopalians  over  the  Presbyterians. 

CUMBERLAND, .       Of   North    Carolina.      Captain. 

Killed  in  1780,  in   the  battle  of  Ramsour's  Mill. 

CUNARD,  ROBERT.  Of  Philadelphia  County,  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  attainted  of  treason  and  lost  his  estate  by  confiscation. 
He  died  at  Portland,  New  Brunswick,  in  1818,  aged  sixty- 
nine.  His  son  Abraham  settled  in  Halifax,  became  a  mer 
chant,  and  died  in  that  city.  The  Brothers  Cunard,  so  widely 
known  as  the  projectors  of  the  Royal  Mail  Steamship  Line, 
are  sons  of  Abraham. 

CUNNABEL,  EDWARD  G.  He  died  at  Union  Point,  New 
Brunswick,  in  1838,  aged  seventy-six. 

CUNNINGHAM,  ROBERT.  Of  South  Carolina.  One  of  the 
most  prominent  Loyalists  of  the  whole  South.  In  1769,  he 
settled  in  the  district  of  Ninety-Six,  and  was  soon  commis 
sioned  a  Judge.  He  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  Whigs 
in  1775,  when  he  disapproved  of  their  proceedings  in  sus 
taining  the  cause  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  the  adoption  of 
the  Non-Importation  Act.  In  the  course  of  that  year  he  was 


CUNNINGHAM.  347 

seized  and  imprisoned  at  Charleston.  His  brother  Patrick 
assembled  a  body  of  friends  in  order  to  effect  his  release. 
The  Whigs  despatched  Major  Williamson  with  a  force  to 
prevent  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  but  Cunningham's 
party  being  superior,  he  was  compelled  to  retreat.  A  truce 
or  treaty  was  finally  arranged,  and  both  Whigs  and  Loyalists 
dispersed.  In  July  of  1776,  Robert  Cunningham  was  allowed 
his  freedom  without  conditions,  and  removed  to  Charleston. 
Colonel  Williamson  wrote  to  William  Henry  Drayton,  the 
same  month  he  appeared  in  camp,  and  "  declared  himself  our 
fast  friend,  and  that  he  came  to  stand  and  fall  with  us."  "  I 
have  no  doubt,"  adds  Williamson,  "  of  his  proving  true  to 
his  declaration,  but  at  present  it  would  be  improper  to  confer 
any  public  trust  on  him."  In  1780  he  was  created  a  Brig 
adier-General,  and  placed  in  command  of  a  garrison  in  South 
Carolina  ;  but  in  1781  was  at  the  head  of  a  force  in  the  field, 
and  encountered  Sumter.  His  estate  was  confiscated  in  1782. 
After  the  peace,  he  petitioned  to  be  allowed  to  continue  in 
South  Carolina.  His  request  was  refused,  and  he  removed  to 
Nassau,  New  Providence.  The  British  Government  made 
him  a  liberal  allowance  for  his  losses,  and  gave  him  an  an 
nuity.  He  died  in  1813,  aged  seventy-four  years. 

CUNNINGHAM,  PATRICK.  Of  South  Carolina.  Brother  of 
General  Robert.  In  1769  he  was  appointed  Deputy  Surveyor- 
General  of  the  Colony.  He  was  connected  with  the  earliest 
military  movements  at  the  South.  In  1775,  at  the  head  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Loyalists,  he  intercepted  a  party  of 
Whigs  that  were  conveying  ammunition  ;  and  the  same  year 
assembled  a  force  of  fifteen  hundred  men  to  oppose  Major 
Williamson,  who  was  compelled  to  retire.  After  attempting 
to  effect  the  release  of  his  brother  Robert  in  1776,  and  the 
temporary  accommodation  of  affairs  that  year,  Patrick  re 
moved  to  Charleston,  where  he  was  committed  to  prison  by 
order  of  the  Provincial  Congress. 

In  1780  he  received  the  commission  of  Colonel,  and  the 
command  of  a  regiment.  His  estate  was  confiscated  in  1782. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  contest,  he  joined  Robert  in  a  request 


348  CUNNINGHAM. 

to  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  State.  The  application  was  not 
successful,  and  he  went  to  Florida.  In  1785,  a  second  peti 
tion  to  be  restored  to  his  rights  in  South  Carolina  was  more 
favorably  received  ;  and  the  Legislature,  amercing  his  estate 
twelve  per  cent.,  and  imposing  some  personal  disabilities  for  a 
term  of  years,  annulled  the  previous  act  of  banishment  and 
confiscation.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature, 
but  his  position  was  an  unpleasant  one,  and,  after  serving  for 
a  short  time,  he  retired.  He  died  in  1794. 

CUNNINGHAM,  DAVID.  Brother  of  General  Robert.  Be 
fore  the  Revolution,  he  was  Deputy  Surveyor  of  the  District 
of  Ninety-Six.  During  the  war,  he  accepted  the  place  of 
Commissary  of  the  Royal  Army  at  Charleston.  He  was 
allowed  to  continue  in  the  State  at  the  peace,  and  became 
a  planter  in  Ninety-Six. 

CUNNINGHAM,  JOHN.  Of  South  Carolina.  Was  also  a 
brother  of  General  Robert.  He  was  a  planter;  but  in  the 
course  of  the  war,  removing  with  his  brothers  to  Charleston, 
was  a  Commissary  in  the  British  Army.  In  1782  his  prop 
erty  was  confiscated.  He  was  permitted  to  reside  in  the  State 
at  the  conclusion  of  hostilities  ;  and,  embarking  in  commercial 
pursuits,  accumulated  a  large  fortune. 

CUNNINGHAM,  WILLIAM.  Of  South  Carolina.  Was 
known  as  "  Bloody  Bill ;  "  and  there  is  no  little  evidence 
to  show  that  he  well  deserved  the  appellation.  At  the  be 
ginning  of  the  controversy  he  was  inclined  to  be  a  Whig,  and 
indeed  accepted  a  military  commission,  and  served  in  the  cam 
paign  of  1776.  Changing  sides,  he  became  an  officer  and  a 
major  in  the  service  of  the  Crown,  and  was  engaged  in  many 
desperate  exploits,  and  hand-to-hand  fights.  About  the  close 
of  the  year  1781,  when  the  Royal  Army  was  confined  to  the 
vicinity  of  Charleston,  this  monster  adopted  the  infernal  scheme 
of  taking  his  last  revenge,  by  carrying  fire  and  sword  into  the 
settlements  of  the  Whig  militia.  At  the  head  of  a  band  of 
Tories,  he  reached  the  back  country  without  discovery,  and 
began  to  plunder,  to  burn,  and  to  murder.  To  show  the  na 
ture  of  the  man  and  the  kind  of  warfare  which  he  waged, 


CUNNINGHAM.  349 

two  cases  will  suffice.  First,  a  party  of  twenty  under  Cap 
tain  Turner,  armed  in  self-defence,  took  post  in  a  house,  and 
fought  until  their  ammunition  was  nearly  expended,  when 
they  surrendered  on  condition  of  being  treated  as  prisoners 
of  war.  But  Cunningham  put  every  one  of  them  to  instant 
death.  Second,  a  number  of  Whigs,  in  the  District  of  Ninety- 
Six,  commanded  by  Colonel  Joseph  Hayes,  took  shelter  in  a 
building  which  was  set  on  fire,  and,  on  promise  of  protection, 
yielded,  rather  than  be  burned  alive.  Hayes,  and  Captain 
Daniel  Williams  were  immediately  hung  on  a  pole,  which 
broke,  and  both  fell  ;  thereupon,  Cunningham  u  cut  them 
into  pieces  with  his  own  sword."  This  done,  he  turned  upon 
his  other  prisoners,  and  hacked,  and  maimed,  and  killed,  un 
til  his  strength  was  exhausted.  Not  yet  glutted  with  blood, 
he  called  upon  his  comrades  to  complete  the  dreadful  work, 
and  to  slay  whoever  of  the  survivors  they  pleased.  The  end 
was  the  slaughter  of  twelve  more,  or  of  fourteen  in  all. 
Thus,  "  Bloody  Bill,"  murdered  thirty-five  persons  in  these 
two  instances.  In  1782,  his  property  was  confiscated  ;  and, 
at  the  peace,  he  retreated  to  Florida. 

CUNNINGHAM,  ARCHIBALD.  Of  Boston.  Merchant.  Mem 
ber  of  the  North  Church,  and  high  in  office  among  the  Free 
Masons.  Went  to  New  York  in  1776,  and  was  proscribed 
and  banished  in  1778. 

At  the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  six  persons,  and 
bv  one  servant,  he  went  from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova 
Scotia.  His  losses  in  consequence  of  his  loyalty  were  esti 
mated  at  £1100.  In  Nova  Scotia  he  was  Clerk  of  the  Peace, 
and  Register  of  Probate.  He  was  a  man  of  reading  and  ob 
servation,  and  left  valuable  papers.  lie  died  in  1820. 

CUNNINGHAM,  ANDREW.  Of  the  District  of  Ninety-Six, 
South  Carolina.  He  held  a  commission  under  the  Crown, 
and  lost  his  estate  under  the  Confiscation  Act.  But  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly,  by  special  Act,  subsequently,  gave  Margaret, 
his  widow,  and  her  children,  an  estate  on  Rexburns  Creek, 
which  had  not  been  sold  by  the  Commissioners  of  Forfeited 
Estates,  and  which  seems  to  have  been  the  homestead. 

VOL.  i.  30 


350  CUNNINGHAM.  -  CURWEN. 

CUNNINGHAM,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  York.  Provost  Mar 
shal.  To  receive  as  authentic  the  "  Confession  "  which  ap 
peared  in  the  newspapers  about  the  time  of  his  death,  we 
have  the  following  facts,  namely :  that  his  father  was  a 
trumpeter  in  the  Dragoons,  and  that  he  was  born  in  the  bar 
racks  at  Dublin  ;  that  he  arrived  at  New  York  in  1774,  with 
some  indented  servants,  kidnapped  by  him  in  Ireland  ;  that 
his  first  employment  here  was  the  breaking  of  horses  and  the 
teaching  of  young  gentlemen  and  ladies  to  ride  ;  that  his 
course  in  the  Revolutionary  controversy  rendered  him  ob 
noxious  to  the  Whigs  of  New  York  ;  that  he  fled  to  Boston, 
where,  continuing  his  opposition  to  the  popular  movement,  he 
attracted  the  attention  of  General  Gage,  who,  as  the  quarrel 
came  to  blows,  appointed  him  Provost  Marshal  to  the  Royal 
Army,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  wreak  his  vengeance 
on  the  Americans.  The  details  of  his  crimes  are  horrible. 
Of  the  prisoners  under  his  care,  two  thousand  were  starved 
to  death,  and  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  privately 
hung  without  ceremony.  To  reject  this  paper,  there  is  quite 
enough  in  the  documents  of  the  time  to  show  that  he  was  an 
incarnate  devil.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  England,  and  set 
tled  in  Wales.  Persuaded  to  go  to  London,  he  became  dissi 
pated  ;  and,  to  relieve  his  embarrassments,  mortgaged  his  half- 
pay,  and  subsequently  forged  a  draft.  Convicted  of  forgery, 
he  wras  executed  in  London  in  1791. 

CUNNINGHAM,  JAMES.  Pilot  to  the  fleet  under  the  com 
mand  of  Lord  Howe.  He  went  to  England,  and  died  there 
in  1783. 

CURWEN,  SAMUEL.  Of  Massachusetts.  Graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1735.  He  was  in  the  commission  of 
the  peace  for  thirty  years,  and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Revolution,  a  Judge  of  Admiralty.  He  went  to  England  in 
1775,  remained  there  until  1784,  when  he  returned  to  Salem, 
where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days,  dying  in  1802,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-six  years.  While  in  exile,  he  kept  a  jour 
nal,  which  has  been  published,  and  is  an  interesting  book  ; 
its  editor,  George  A.  Ward,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  has  enriched 


CURWEN.  351 

it  with  several  notices  of  his  relative's  fellow-Loyalists,  and 
thus  added  greatly  to  is  value.  No  work  extant  contains  so 
much  information  of  the  unhappy  exiles  while  abroad. 

A  rapid  synopsis  of  the  journal  follows :  "  Visited  West 
minster  Hall.  Went  to  Vauxhall  Gardens.  Dined  with  a 
fellow-refugee.  Saw  the  Lord  Mayor  in  his  court.  Dined 
with  Governor  Hutchinson,  in  company  with  several  Massa 
chusetts  refugees.  Walked  to  Hyde  Park.  A  whole  army 
of  sufferers  in  the  cause  of  loyalty  are  here,  lamenting  their 
own  and  their  country's  unhappy  fate.  ;  The  fires  are  not 
to  be  compared  to  our  large  American  ones  of  oak  and  wal 
nut,  nor  near  so  comfortable  ;  would  that  I  were  away  !  ' 
Saw  many  curiosities  brought  from  Egypt  and  the  Holy 
Land.  Visited  Hampton  Court ;  saw  there  chairs  of  state 
Avith  rich  canopies  ;  pictures  of  the  reigning  beauties  of  the 
times  of  Charles  the  Second  ;  pictures  of  monks,  friars,  nuns  ; 
pictures  of  former  kings  and  queens.  Went  to  Windsor. 
Heard  news  from  America.  Went  to  Governor  Hutchin- 
son's  ;  he  was  alone,  reading  a  new  pamphlet,  entitled  '  An 
Enquiry  whether  Great  Britain  or  America  is  most  in  Fault.' 
Dined  with  eleven  New  Englanders.  Went  to  meeting  of 
Disputation  Club.  Bought  Dr.  Price  on  '  Civil  Liberty  and 
the  American  War.'  Visited  Governor  Hutchinson,  who  was 
again  alone.  Went  to  Herald's  office.  Went  to  New  Eng 
land  Coffee-house.  Newr  England  refugees  form  a  Club. 
Went  to  Chapel  Royal,  and  saw  the  King  and  Queen  ; 
Bishop  of  London  preached.  Heard  Dr.  Price  preach. 
Dinner,  tea,  and  evening  with  several  refugees.  Attended 
funeral  of  fellow-refugee  ;  many  have  died.  At  the  New 
England  Club  dinner,  twenty-five  members  present.  News 
of  Banishment  and  Confiscation  Acts.  Saw  procession  of 
peers  for  trial  of  Duchess  of  Kingston.  Went  to  St.  Paul's; 
Dr.  Porteus  preached  ;  several  high  church  dignitaries  pre 
sent.  Saw  Lord  Mansfield  in  Court,  his  train  borne  by  a 
gentleman.  Went  to  Bunyan's  tomb.  Heard  Dr.  Peters, 
a  Connecticut  Loyalist,  preach.  News  from  America.  Strive 
hard  for  some  petty  clerkship  ;  application  was  unsuccessful  ; 


852  CURWEN. 

such  offices  openly  bought  and  sold.  Hopes  and  fears  excited 
by  accounts  from  native  land.  Visited  ancient  ruins,  supposed 
to  be  either  of  Roman  or  Danish  origin.  Witnessed  election 
of  a  member  of  Parliament.  Discuss  probability  of  war's 
closing.  Sigh  to  return  to  America.  Fear  to  be  reduced  to 
want ;  lament  distressed  and  forlorn  condition.  Visited  noble 
men's  estates  and  castles.  Heard  of  death  of  Washington. 
Letter  from  a  friend  in  America.  Visited  different  colleges 
and  public  gardens.  Fears  about  losing  pension,  and  horror 
of  utter  poverty.  Attended  sessions  of  Parliament  ;  heard 
Fox,  Burke,  and  other  great  orators.  Heard  that  Washing 
ton  and  his  army  were  captured.  Heard  Wesley  preach  to 
an  immense  throng  in  the  open  air.  Visited  a  fishing-town, 
and  reminded  of  fishing-towns  in  Massachusetts.  Heard  that 

O 

Washington  is  declared  Dictator,  like  Cromwell.  King  im 
plored  to  drive  Lord  North  from  his  service,  and  take  Chat 
ham,  and  men  of  his  sentiments,  instead.  Witnessed  equip 
ment  of  fleets  and  armies  to  subdue  America.  Angry  and 
mortified  to  hear  Englishmen  talk  of  Americans  as  a  sort  of 

?75 

serfs.  Wearied  of  sights.  Sick  at  heart,  and  tired  of  a  so 
journ  among  a  people,  who,  after  all,  are  but  foreigners.  New 
refugees  arrived  to  recount  their  losses  and  sufferings.  Fear 
of  alliance  with  France.  Great  excitement  in  England  among 
the  opposers  of  the  war.  Continued  and  frequent  deaths 
among  the  refugee  Lovalists.  Pensions  of  several  friends 
reduced.  Fish  dinner  at  the  Coffee-house.  O  for  a  return 
to  New  England !  Anxious  as  to  the  result  of  the  war.  News 

£5 

of  surrender  of  Cormvallis,  and  admission  on  all  hands,  that 
England  can  do  no  more.  All  the  Loyalists  abroad  deeply 
agitated  as  to  their  future  fate.  Failure  of  British  Commis 
sioners  to  procure  in  the  treaty  of  peace  any  positive  condi 
tions  for  the  Americans  in  exile.  Long  to  be  away,  but  dare 
not  go.  Some  refugees  venture  directly  to  return  to  their 
homes  ;  others  embark  for  Nova  Scotia  and  Canada,  there 
to  suffer  anew.  Know  of  forty-five  refugees  from  Massa 
chusetts  who  have  died  in  England  ;  among  them,  Hutch- 
inson,  the  Governor,  and  Flncker,  the  Secretary." 


C URRY.  —  C UTLER.  ;  353 

*»'^ 

Sucli    were  some4   of   the   thino-s    which   Curwen    saw   and 

t~) 

heard,  such  the  hopes  and  fears  which  agitated  him  during 
his  exile,  and  the  course  of  life  of  hundreds  of  others,  we  may 
very  properly  conclude,  was  not  dissimilar.  Would  that  all 
the  opposers  of  the  Revolution  had  passed  their  time  as  inno 
cently  !  Some  of  those  who  remained  in  the  country,  did  in 
fact  do  so  ;  since  they  were  nominal  Loyalists  only,  and  lived 
quietly  upon  their  estates,  or  pursued  their  ordinary  employ 
ments  at  their  usual  homes,  in  the  towns  occupied  by  the  Royal 
forces. 

CURRY,  JOHN.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick  after  the 
war,  and  as  early  as  ITUlJ  was  senior  Justice  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  for  the  County  of  Charlotte.  He  died  in  that 
county.  His  son,  Cadwallader  Curry,  was  for  some  years  a 
merchant  at  Eastport,  Maine,  and  subsequently  at  Campo 
Hello,  New  Brunswick. 

CURRY,  Ross.  Of  Philadelphia.  A  Whig  at  first,  and  a 
lieutenant  in  the  army.  Attainted  of  treason,  and  property 
confiscated.  Was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Pennsylvania  Loyalists, 
and  adjutant  of  the  corps.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick, 
received  half-pay,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  profession  of 
the  law.  He  died  in  that  Province. 

CURTIS,  CHARLES.  Of  Scituate,  Massachusetts.  Grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University  in  1765.  He  was  one  of  the 
eighteen  country  gentlemen  who  were  driven  into  Boston, 
and  who  were  Addressers  of  Gage  on  his  departure,  in 
October,  1775.  He  was  proscribed  under  the  Act  of  1778. 
His  death  occurred  at  New  York  previous  to  1882. 

CUTLER.  Two  persons  of  the  name  of  Thomas  Cutler  were 
proscribed  and  banished  in  1778  ;  one  by  the  Act  of  New 
Hampshire,  the  other  by  that  of  Massachusetts.  The  Thomas 
of  the  latter  belonged  to  Hatfield.  There  died  at  Gaysbor- 
ough,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1838,  Thomas  Cutler,  Esq.,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five,  who  was  a  Loyalist,  and  who  was,  un 
doubtedly,  one  of  them. 

CUTLER,    EBEXE/ER.     Of    Northborough,    Massachusetts. 
In  May,  1775,  the  Northborough  Committee  of  Correspond- 
30* 


854  CUTLER.  —  CUTTING. 

enee  made  charges  against  him,  and  sent  him,  with  the  evi 
dence  of  his  misconduct,  to  General  Ward  at  Cambridge. 
His  case  was  submitted  to  Congress,  when  it  appeared  that 
he  had  spoken  "  many  things  disrespectful  of  the  Continental 
and  Provincial  Congresses,"  that  he  had  "  acted  against  their 
resolves,"  had  said  that  "  he  would  assist  Gage,"  had  called 
such  as  signed  the  town-covenant  or  non-consumption  agree 
ment,  "  damned  fools,"  &c.,  &c.  A  resolve  to  commit  him 
to  prison  was  refused  a  passage,  and  a  resolve  that  lie  be 
allowed  to  join  the  British  troops  at  Boston,  was  also  lost. 
But  subsequently  he  was  allowed  to  go  into  that  town  "  with 
out  his  effects."  Cutler  had  formerly  lived  at  Groton.  In 
1776  he  accompanied  the  British  Army  to  Halifax.  In  1778 
he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  settled  in  Nova  Scotia, 
and  was  protonotary  of  the  county  of  Annapolis.  He  was  a 
zealous  Episcopalian  ;  and,  it  is  related  that,  seeing  his  cow 
drinking  from  a  stream  which  passed  under  a  Methodist  meet 
ing-house,  "  he  beat  her  severely  for  her  apostacy  from  the 
true  faith."  He  died  at  Annapolis  Royal,  in  1831.  quite 
aged.  Mary,  his  widow,  died  at  the  same  place  in  1889. 

CUTTING,  LEONARD.  An  Episcopal  clergyman,  of  New 
York.  He  graduated  at  Cambridge,  England,  in  1747,  and 
shortly  after  was  appointed  a  tutor  and  a  professor  in  King's 
College,  New  York.  In  1766  he  was  settled  as  minister  of 
St.  George's  Church,  Hempstead,  New  York.  In  1776  he 
signed  an  acknowledgment  of  allegiance,  and  professed  him 
self  a  loyal  and  well-affected  subject.  While  at  Hempstead, 
he  preached  occasionally  at  Huntington  and  Oyster  Bay.  He 
also  taught  a  classical  school  of  high  repute,  and  educated  sev 
eral  young  men  who  became  eminent.  In  1784  his  pastoral 
relations  at  Hempstead  were  dissolved,  and  he  accepted  the 
Rectorship  of  the  Episcopal  Church  at  Snow  Hill,  Maryland. 
Subsequently,  he  was  called  to  Christ  Church,  Newbern, 
North  Carolina  ;  and,  after  officiating  there  about  eight  years, 
he  returned  to  New  York.  He  died  in  1794,  in  his  seventieth 
year.  His  wife  survived  until  1803.  One  of  his  sons  was 
the  father  of  Francis  B.  Cutting,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  the 


CUTTER.  —  CUYLER. 


fes 


city  of  New  York.  lie  was  small  and  of  slender  frame  ;  and 
was  "beloved,  equally  by  his  pupils,  bis  parishioners,  and  his 
friends." 

CUTTER,  SAMUEL.  Of  Eden  ton,  North  Carolina.  Physi 
cian.  Born  in  Brookfield,  Massachusetts,  in  1741  ;  graduated 
at  Harvard  University,  17b'5.  After  travelling  in  Europe,  he 
settled  at  Edenton,  and  enjoyed  the  respect  of  several  leading 
Whigs.  At  one  period  of  the  war,  he  was  in  practice  at  New- 
town,  New  York.  His  fortunes  subsequently  were  various. 
In  178;">  he  was  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  where  he  formed 
business  relations  with  an  English  gentleman,  by  which,  he 
said,  he  hoped  to  live  comfortably  the  remainder  of  his  days. 
Though  treated  with  every  civility,  his  situation  was  disagree- 

t/  v  O 

able,  because  he  was  among  people  whose  genius  and  manners 
were  totally  different  from  those  with  whom  he  had  mino-led 

o 

for  twenty  years,  and  because  lie  was  entirely  separated  from 
old  friends  to  whom  he  was  most  tenderly  attached.  In  De 
cember  of  the  same  year  he  was  at  New  London,  where —  he 
wrote — his  employment  called  him  up  before  the  sun,  kept 
him  on  foot  the  whole  day,  and  often  still  later.  I  find  him 
next  in  17(J5,  when  he  was  in  Vermont.  His  two  sons  were 
with  him,  but  his  wife  was  at  Hartford.  His  circumstances 
were  easy,  but  there  was  no  society  around  him,  and  he  lived 
almost  in  solitude.  He  had  relinquished  practice,  but  acted 
occasionally  in  consultations.  He  was  a  trader,  tanner,  miller, 
and  distiller.  lie  had  been  a  member  of  the  Legislature  ; 
and  had  he  not  been  loyal  in  the  Revolution,  would  have 
enjoyed  popular  favor.  He  died  at  Walpole,  New  Hampshire, 
in  18:21,  in  his  eightieth  year. 

CUTTER,  ZACHEUS.  Of  Amherst,  New  Hampshire.  Aban 
doned  the  country.  Commissioners  appointed  to  examine 
claims  against  his  estate,  June,  1781.  For  a  time  during  the 
war,  he  was  at  Newtown,  New  York.  Prior  to  the  peace, 
he  sailed  for  London  for  the  purchase  of  Broods,  intending  to 

I  tT1  & 

establish  himself  in  New  York,  and  perished  at  sea  on  the 
return  passage.  Dr.  Samuel  Cutter  was  a  kinsman. 

CUYLER,  ABRAHAM  C.     Of  Albany,  New  York.     Mayor 


356  CUTLER.  —  D  ABNEY. 

of  that  city.  Confined  at  Hartford,  lie  applied  to  tlie  New 
York  State  Convention,  (August,  1776,)  for  permission  to 
visit  his  wife,  who,  he  said,  was  sick  and  unable  to  take  care 
of  his  children  and  large  family  ;  and,  in  the  mean  time,  to 
settle  some  of  his  private  affairs. 

Released  after  some  delay,  he  was  authorized  by  the  British 
Commander-in-Chief  to  raise  a  battalion  of  six  hundred  men 
for  the  Royal  service,  and  in  November.  1779,  was  recruiting 
loyal  refugees  at  Bett's  tavern,  Jamaica,  New  York.  He 
was  attainted,  and  his  property  confiscated.  In  1781  he  went 
to  England.  He  returned  to  Albany,  and  lived  where  the 
North  Dutch  Church  now  stands  ;  but  his  course  in  the  Rev 
olution  rendered  his  situation  uncomfortable,  and  he  removed 
to  Canada,  and  died  there  in  1810,  aged  sixty-eight.  "  He 
was  a  man  of  dignified  and  gentlemanly  deportment."  His 
son,  Cornelius,  a  major  in  the  British  Army,  died  at  Montreal 
in  1807. 

CUYLER,  HENRY.  Colonel  in  the  British  Army.  He  en 
tered  the  service  in  1782,  as  an  ensign  ;  was  commissioned  a 
Major  in  1797,  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  1800,  and  Colonel  in 
1810.  He  died  in  England  in  1841,  aged  seventy-two. 

CUYLER,  SIR  CORNELIUS,  Baronet.  Of  Albany,  New- 
York.  General  in  the  British  Army.  He  was  born  at 
Albany,  and  entered  the  service  young.  Besides  the  honors 
above  mentioned,  he  was  Governor  of  Kinsale,  and  Colonel 
of  the  69th  Foot.  He  died  at  St.  John's  Lodge,  Herts,  Eng 
land,  in  1819,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles,  the 
present  (1857)  Baronet.  Lady  Cuyler,  who  died  in  1815, 
was  Anne,  daughter  of  Major  Richard  Grant.  Georo~e,  a 

O  «J  j— >     " 

son,  Colonel  of  the  llth  Foot,  and  K.  C.  B.,  died  at  Ports 
mouth,  England,  in  1818,  immediately  after  his  return  from 
Gibraltar. 

DAHNEY,  NATHANIEL.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Physi 
cian.  An  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  but  one  of  the 
"  Recanters."  He  went  to  England  in  1777,  and  died  before 
the  peace.  In  1781,  his  estate  was  advertised  for  sale  by  the 
Whig  authorities. 


DALGLTSTT.  -  DANA.  357 

DALGLISH,  ANDREW.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Gage  in  1774.  lie  went  to  England.  Was  at 
Glasgow,  November,  1781. 

DANA,  SAMUEL.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  in  that 
part  of  Cambridge  which  is  now  Brighton,  in  1739,  and  grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University  in  1755.  Six  years  later,  the 
town  of  Groton  voted  unanimously  to  invite  him  to  become 
their  minister,  with  a  settlement  of  X200,  a  salary  of  £80, 
and  fire-wood,  not  to  exceed  thirty  cords  per  annum.  He 
was  ordained  June,  1701.  In  the  crisis  of  1775,  he  believed 
that  resistance  would  lead  to  greater  evils  than  were  then 
endured,  and  used  his  influence  on  the  side  of  non-resistance. 
In  March,  "  he  preached  a  sermon  which  gave  great  offence 
to  the  people,  who  were  generally  inclined  to  unwavering  re 
sistance.  He  was  not  allowed  to  enter  the  meeting-house  on 
the  next  Sabbath,  and  his  dismission  by  the  town  soon  fol 
lowed."  "  It  is  a  matter  of  tradition,  that  the  in 
habitants  were  so  enraged,  that  they  shot  bullets  into  Mr. 
Dana's  house,  to  the  great  danger  of  his  life  and  the  lives  of 
his  family."  That  he  was  an  excellent  man,  cannot  be 
doubted.  In  May,  he  made  a  written  confession,  which,  at 
the  moment,  was  satisfactory.  He  had  warm  Whig  friends. 
In  the  hope  that  all  trouble  might  terminate,  the  Whig  Com 
mittee  of  Groton,  (of  whom  Colonel  Prescott,  who  shortly 
after  commanded  the  American  force  at  Breed's  Hill,  was 
one,)  published  a  card,  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Dana  had  fully 
atoned  for  his  offences.  The  good  will  of  his  parishioners 
was,  however,  alienated,  and  separation  was  the  consequence. 
After  his  dismission  at  Groton,  he  continued  in  that  town  for 
some  years,  but  finally  removed  to  Amherst,  New  Hampshire, 
when  he  read  law,  and  was  appointed  Judge  of  Probate  for 
the  County  of  Hillsborough.  lie  died  at  Amherst  in  1798, 
and  was  buried  with  Masonic  honors.  His  son  Luther  was 
an  enterprising  ship-master,  and  father  of  Samuel  L.  Dana, 
physician  and  chemist,  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts.  His  second 
son,  Hon.  Samuel  Dana,  who  died  in  1835,  was  bred  to  the 
law,  was  distinguished  in  his  profession,  and  became  President 


358  DANFORTIT. 

of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Cir 
cuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ;  the  Hon.  James  Dana,  late 
Mayor  of  Charlestown,  is  his  youngest  son. 

DANFORTH,  SAMUEL.  Of  Massachusetts.  Son  of  Rev.  John 
Danforth  of  Dorchester,  and  was  educated  at  Harvard  Uni 
versity.  For  several  years  lie  was  President  of  the  Council,  a 
Judge,  and  in  1774,  a  Mandamus  Councillor.  After  the  last 
appointment,  the  Middlesex  County  Convention  —  "  Resolved, 
That  whereas  the  Hon.  Samuel  Danforth,  and  Joseph  Lee, 
Esquires,  two  of  the  Judges  of  the  Inferior  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  th'j  County,  have  accepted  commissions  under  the 
new  Act,  by  being  sworn  members  of  his  Majesty's  Council, 
appointed  by  said  Act,  we  therefore  look  upon  them  as  utterly 
incapable  of  holding  any  office  whatever/'  He  died  in  1777, 
aged  eighty-one.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  love  of  natural 
philosophy  and  chemistry. 

DANFORTH,  SAMUEL.  Physician.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  the 
preceding.  He  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1740,  and  grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University  in  1758.  He  pursued  his  medi 
cal  studies  with  Doctor  Rand,  and  commenced  practice  at 
Newport;  but  finally  settled  in  Boston.  The  Revolutionary 
troubles  disturbed  his  professional  pursuits,  and  distressed  his 

family.     His  wife   and   three    children   took  refuo-e  with  her 

•/  & 

father ;  his  brother  went  to  England  and  never  returned  ; 
while  he  himself  continued  in  Boston  during  the  siege.  At 
the  evacuation,  he  was  treated  harshly.  But,  as  Whigs  could 
not  do  without  physicians  better  than  others,  he  was  soon  in 
full  practice,  and  the  confidence  of  his  patients  was  nearly 
unlimited,  and  their  attachment  almost  without  bounds. 
From  1795  to  1798  he  was  President  of  the  Medical  So 
ciety.  He  excelled  in  medicine,  but  not  in  surgery.  He 
continued  in  full  practice  until  he  was  nearly  fourscore  years. 
After  about  four  years'  confinement  to  his  house,  lie  died  at 
Boston  in  1827,  aged  eighty-seven.  The  family  from  which 
he  was  descended  occupy  a  distinguished  place  in  the  annals 
of  New  England. 

o 

DANFORTH,     THOMAS.      Counsellor-at-law,    Charlestown, 


DANIEL.  — DAVIS.  359 

Massachusetts.  Brother  of  the  second  Samuel.  Tie  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  University  ;  an  Addresser  of  Hutchin- 
son  ;  and  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  was  the  only 
lawyer  at  Charlestown,  and  the  only  inhabitant  of  that  town 
who  sought  protection  from  the  parent  country  at  the  begin 
ning  of  serious  opposition.  He  went  to  Halifax  in  177(>.  He 
died  in  London  in  1825. 

DANIEL,  JOSEPH.  In  December,  1783,  warrant  issued  on 
petition  of  the  Selectmen  of  Stamford,  Connecticut,  ordering 
him  to  depart  that  town  forthwith,  and  never  return. 

DANIEL,  TIMOTHY.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1783, 
and  died  at  Hampton  in  that  Province,  in  1847,  aged  one 
hundred  years. 

DARIXGTON,  JOHN.  He  emigrated  to  New  Brunswick  at 
the  peace,  and  died  there.  Joanna,  his  widow,  died  in  Port 
land,  in  that  Province,  in  1840,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five. 

DAVENPOKT,  CAPTAIN  -  — .  He  was  a  AVhig,  and  held 
a  military  commission  under  Congress,  but  "  was  found  wholly 
destitute  of  honor  and  principle."  His  connections  were  re 
spectable,  and  he  possessed  the  air  and  manners  of  a  man  of 
the  world.  He  remained  at  New  York  after  the  retreat  of 
Washington  from  Long  Island,  and  until  the  city  was  occu 
pied  by  the  British  troops  ;  and  thus  became  a  voluntary  cap 
tive,  if  not  a  deserter. 

DAVENPORT,  JOSEPH.  Of  Virginia.  Went  to  England, 
and  died  there  in  1783. 

DAVIDSON,  HAMILTON.  He  died  in  York  County,  New 
Brunswick,  in  1841,  aged  ninety-two. 

DAVIS,  BENJAMIN.  Merchant  of  Boston.  Was  an  Ad 
dresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775.  He 
left  that  town  with  his  family,  determined,  he  declared,  to 
settle  in  some  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominions.  He  went 
first  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia  ;  and  in  his  passage  from  that 
city  to  New  York,  in  the  ship  Peggy,  was  captured  and  car 
ried  to*  Marblehead,  and  thence  to  Boston,  and  imprisoned. 
In  a  letter  to  James  Bowdoin,  dated  in  jail,  October  10, 
1776,  he  said  he  was  denied  pen,  ink  and  paper,  was  required 


360  DAVIS.  —  DAWKINS. 

to  keep  in  an  apartment  by  himself,  and  was  allowed  to  con 
verse  with  others  only  in  the  presence  of  the  jailer.  When 
lie  left  Boston  he  had  goods  in  his  store  of  the  value  of  c£1000 
sterling,  which  he  lost  :  and  when  taken  at  sea  he  lost  <£1500 
sterling  more.  In  addition,  a  large  amount  was  due  him 
which  was  never  recovered.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and 
banished.  He  was  in  New  York,  July,  1783,  and  a  petitioner 
for  lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  In  his  religious  faith  Mr.  Davis 
was  a  Sandemanian. 

DAVIS,  JOHN.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Was  an 
Addresser  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  in  1780,  and  also  a  Petitioner 
to  be  armed  on  the  side  of  the  Crown.  He  was  banished  in 
1782,  and  his  property  was  confiscated.  He  probably  went 
to  England.  John  Davis,  an  attainted  Loyalist,  was  in  Lon 
don  in  1794,  and  represented  to  the  British  Government  that 
he  had  been  unable  to  recover  several  lar^e  debts  due  to  him 

O 

at  the  time  of  his  banishment.  It  may  be  remarked  here,  that 
though  the  sums  of  money,  due  to  Loyalists  proscribed,  were 
now  included  in  the  Confiscation  Acts,  the  courts  of  some  of 
the  States  were  slow  to  coerce  the  debtors. 

DAVIS,  SOLOMON.  Of  Setauket,  New  York.  Shipmaster 
in  the  London  trade.  His  house  was  assailed,  in  1779,  by  a 
band  of  marauders,  who  fired  several  balls  through  it.  He 
was  armed,  and  told  them  that  he  was  used  to  the  flying  of 
balls  around  him.  Neighbors  were  alarmed,  and  the  gang 
went  off  without  entering.  In  1783,  while  returning  home 
from  the  city  of  New  York,  he  was  met  by  two  men,  who 
shot  him  dead  on  the  spot. 

DAWKINS,  GEORGE.  Of  South  Carolina.  In  1782  he  was 
a  captain  of  cavalry  in  the  South  Carolina  Royalists.  His 
estate  was  confiscated.  Wounded,  1781,  in  the  battle  of  Hob- 
kirk's  Hill. 

DAWKINS,  HENRY.  Of  New  York.  Taken  on  Long  Isl 
and  and  sent  to  prison.  In  his  despair,  he  stated  to  the  Com 
mittee  of  Safety,  that  he  \vas  "  weary  of  such  a  miserable  life 
as  his  misconduct  hath  thrown  him  into,"  and  prayed  that  hon 
orable  body  to  appoint  the  manner  of  terminating  his  sorrows 
by  death. 


DAWSON.  —  DEANE.  361 

DAWSON,  DAVID.  Of  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania.  At 
tainted  of  treason  and  property  confiscated.  Subsequently 
joined  the  Royal  Army  in  Philadelphia,  and  went  with  it  to 
New  York,  and  was  employed  in  passing  counterfeit  Conti 
nental  money.  He  was  detected  in  1780,  and  executed. 

DAWSOX,  JAMES.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Deserted  from  the 
State  galleys,  and  joined  the  British  at  Philadelphia.  Cap 
tured  at  sea.  In  1779,  in  jail  and  to  be  tried  for  treason. 

DEALEY,  JAMES.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  He 
and  Locklan  Martin  were  tarred  and  feathered,  and  driven 
in  a  cart  through  the  streets  of  that  city  in  June,  1775;  and 
Dealey  was,  besides,  compelled  to  leave  the  country,  and  go 
to  England.  The  Secret  Committee  of  Charleston,  at  that 
time,  was  composed  of  distinguished  men,  one  of  whom  was 
subsequently  in  nomination  for  the  highest  honors,  and  there 
is  evidence  that  they  countenanced,  if  they  did  not  actually 
direct,  the  procedure. 

DEAN,  JACOB.  Of  New  York.  Was  a  loyal  Declarator 
in  1775.  He  became  an  inhabitant  of  New  Brunswick,  and 
died  at  St.  John  in  1818,  aged  eighty. 

DEANE,  SILAS.  Of  Connecticut.  Graduated  at  Yale  Col 
lege  in  1758.  He  played  a  distinguished  part  among  the 
Whigs  in  the  early  part  of  the  contest,  but  his  political  sun 
went  down  in  gloom,  sorrow,  and  destitution.  He  may  have 
been  wronged.  A  member  of  the  first  Continental  Congress 
in  1774,  and  the  first  diplomatic  agent  to  France,  a  brilliant 
career  was  before  him.  But  while  abroad,  his  engagements 
and  contracts  embarrassed  Congress,  and  he  was  recalled. 
Required  to  account  for  his  pecuniary  transactions,  he  did 
not  dispel  suspicion  of  having  misapplied  the  public  funds  in 
trusted  to  his  care.  The  delegates  of  Connecticut  in  Congress 
appear  to  have  distrusted  his  integrity  from  the  first.  In  turn, 
he  accused  Arthur  and  William  Lee,  who  were  abroad  in 
public  trusts,  as  well  as  their  brothers  in  Congress,  of  con 
ducting  a  secret  correspondence  with  England.  In  1784  he 
attempted  to  retrieve  his  fame,  by  an  address  to  the  country, 
but  failed.  He  now  went  to  England..  Mr.  Jay,  who  was  in 

VOL.  i.  31 


362  DEBLOIS. 

Europe,  had  been  his  friend,  and  wished  to  aid  him,  and  would 
have  done  so,  had  he  been  able  to  remove  the  accusations 
that  had  blighted  his  hopes  and  injured  his  character.  But 
Mr.  Jay  had  heard  that  he  was  on  terms  of  familiarity  with 
Arnold,  and  "  every  American  who  gives  his  hand  to  that 
man,"  he  wrote  to  Deane,  "  in  my  opinion  pollutes  it."  I 
have  said  that  he  may  have  been  wronged.  He  may  have 
been  careless  in  his  accounts,  but  not  dishonest ;  he  may  have 
been  incapable,  not  corrupt.  In  1842  his  long-disputed  claims 
were  adjusted  by  Congress,  and  a  large  sum  was  found  to  be 
due  to  his  heirs,  under  the  principles  recognized  by  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  applicable  to  all  claimants  ;  hence  the  doubt, 
whether  he  received  entire  justice  at  the  hands  of  his  asso 
ciates.  A  man  driven  to  despair  is  to  be  judged  mercifully. 
He  died  on  board  the  Boston  Packet,  in  the  Downs,  in  1789, 
in  his  fifty-third  year,  after  four  hours'  illness.  His  wife  was 
"  the  rich  widow  Webb." 

DEBLOIS,  GILBERT.  Merchant,  of  Boston.  An  Addresser 
of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775.  He  went  to 
Halifax  in  1776.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished. 
In  1779  he  was  in  London,  and  addressed  the  King.  He  died 
in  England  in  1791,  aged  sixty-three. 

DEBLOIS,  GEORGE.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Gage  in  1774.  He  went  to  England.  In  1784, 
George  Deblois,  Jr.,  was  a  merchant  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia. 
The  widow  of  a  George  Deblois,  died  at  the  same  city,  De 
cember,  1827,  aged  seventy-four. 

DEBLOIS,  ISAAC.  He  was  in  the  service  of  the  King,  and 
a  lieutenant.  In  1784  a  lot  in  the  city  of  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  was  granted  him  by  the  Crown. 

DEBLOIS,  LEWIS.  Merchant,  of  Boston.  He  was  an  Ad 
dresser  of  Gage  in  1775,  and  in  1776  was  at  Halifax.  In 
1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  was  in  London 
in  1779.  He  died  very  suddenly  in  England,  (after  being 
out  all  day,)  in  1779,  aged  seventy-one. 

DEBLOIS,  LEWIS.  Of  Massachusetts.  After  the  peace,  a 
merchant  in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  in  1795  a  mem- 


DEBOW.  —  BE  LANCET.  363 

ber  of  the  company  of  Loyal  Artillery.  He  died  in  that  city 
in  1802.  His  daughter,  Elizabeth  Cranston,  is  the  wife  of 
James  White,  Esq.,  late  (1847)  sheriff  of  the  county  of  St. 
John. 

DEBOW,  JAMES.  Served  in  the  Queen's  Rangers  ;  settled 
in  New  Brunswick  in  1783,  and  died  there.  His  widow, 
Huldah,  died  in  that  Province  in  1847,  aged  ninety-four. 

DE  LANCEY,  OLIVER.  Of  New  York.  In  command  of 
a  Loyalist  brigade.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Stephen  De 
Lancey  and  of  his  wife,  Ann  Van  Cortlandt,  and  was  born 
in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1717.  He  served  with  credit  in 
two  campaigns  of  the  French  war,  at  the  head  of  a  regiment. 
In  1759  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  the 
next  year  appointed  a  member  of  the  Council.  His  father, 
who  was  a  French  refugee,  was  a  gentleman  of  wealth,  and 
of  the  first  rank.  His  career  for  some  years  may  be  consid 
ered  in  connection  with  that  of  his  brother  James,  who  was 
Chief  Justice  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  that  Colony.  James 
was  a  man  of  talents,  of  learning,  of  great  vivacity,  and  of 
popular  manners ;  but,  if  the  writers  of  the  time  are  to  be  fol 
lowed,  he  was  also  an  unprincipled  demagogue,  who  opposed 
the  governors  whom  he  could  not  rule,  and  who,  for  unworthy 
purposes  of  his  own,  kept  the  public  mind  in  continual  agita 
tion.  He  was  at  the  head  of  affairs  and  administered  the 
government  after  the  removal  of  Clinton  and  the  death  of  Os- 
born,  and  a  second  time  as  the  successor  of  Hardy.  He  died 
in  1760.  The  party  opposed  to  his  advancement,  in  denounc 
ing  his  ambitious  projects,  did  not  spare  Oliver,  the  subject  of 
this  notice.  On  some  occasions,  Oliver  seems  to  have  promo 
ted  his  brother's  designs,  at  the  expense  of  propriety  and  deco 
rum.  But  yet  Oliver  De  Lancey,  at  the  period  of  the  French 
war,  occupied  a  commanding  position,  and  perhaps  he  did  not 
overrate  his  personal  influence  when  he  said,  that  if  in  the 
expedition  against  Crown  Point,  he  "  should  accept  the  com 
mand  of  the  New  York  Regiment,  he  could  in  ten  days  raise 
the  whole  "  quota  of  troops  allotted  to  that  Colony.  This 
standing  he  maintained  after  his  brother's  death,  and  until  the 


364  DE  LANCEY. 

Revolution.     At   the   beginning  of  the   controversy  he  may 
not  have  been  a  zealous  adherent  of  the  Crown.     Some  of 
the  Whigs  insisted,  indeed,  that  he  heartily  approved  of  the 
course  of  the  Ministry,  and  a  letter  appeared  in  a  newspaper 
in  England,  in  1775,  which,  if  genuine,  authorized  the  opin 
ion.     But  this  letter  he  publicly  averred  to  be  an  infamous 
and  a  malicious  forgery.     Nor  did  he  stop  there,  for  he  sub 
mitted,  as  he  declared  upon  his  honor,  the  whole  of  his  corre 
spondence  with  his  friends  in  England,  from  the  earlist  mo 
ment  of  the  dispute,  to  Mr.  Jay,  who,  finding  nothing  objec 
tionable,  so  stated  in  a  card  which  was  published.     But  what 
ever  was  his  course  before  the  question  of  separation  from  the 
mother  country  was  discussed,  he  opposed  the  dismemberment 
of  the  empire,  and  put  his  life  and  property  at  stake  to  pre 
vent  it.     In  1776  he  was    appointed  a  brigadier-general  in 
the  Royal  service.     Skinner,  of  New  Jersey  ;  Brown,  a  former 
governor  of  the  Bahamas  ;   Arnold,  the  apostate  ;  and  Cun 
ningham,   of  South    Carolina,  were  of  the   same   grade,  but 
their  commissions  were  of  later  dates.     General  De  Lancey 
was,  therefore,  the  senior  Loyalist  officer  in  commission  dur 
ing  the  contest.     His  command  consisted  of  three  battalions, 
known  as  De  Lancey's  Battalions.     In  his  orders  for  enlist 
ments,  he  promised  to  any  w7ell-recommended  characters,  who 
should  engage  a  company  of  seventy  men,  the  disposal  of  the 
commissions  of  captain,  lieutenant,  and  ensign.     The  common 
soldiers,  he  said,  w^ould  be  "  in  British  pay."  *    Yet  his  success 
in  filling  his  battalions  was  not  flattering.    Of  the  fifteen  hun 
dred  men  required,  only  five  hundred  and  ninety-seven  were 
embodied  in  the  spring  of  1777,  and  but  seven  hundred  and 
seven  a  year  later. 

It  is  stated,  that,  while  he  was  raising  his  brigade  on  Long 
Island,  Colonel  Henry  R.  Livingston  made  a  "  little  excur 
sion  "  there,  and  carried  off  more  than  three  thousand  sheep 
and  about  four  hundred  horned  cattle,  and  that  ,£500  was 

*  Copies  of  several  of  his  orders,  which  disclosed  his  plans  for  raising 
recruits  and  obtaining  provisions,  were  sent  to  Washington,  and  trans 
mitted  by  him  to  Congress,  October,  1776. 


1)E  LANCET.  365 

offered  for  the  "  Rebel  "  officer's  head.  In  November  of  the 
last-mentioned  year,  a  small  party  of  the  Whig  "  advanced 
water-guard  "  passed  the  British  ships  in  the  night,  burned  his 
mansion  at  Bloomingdale,  and  rudely  treated  the  inmates,  who 
were  ladies  and  servants  of  the  family.  Mrs.  De  Lancey,  who 
was  very  deaf,  hid  herself  in  a  dog-kennel,  and  came  near  be 
ing  burned  there.  Her  daughter  Charlotte,  (of  whom  pres 
ently,)  and  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard  Floyd,  (who  mar 
ried  John  Peter  De  Lancey,  and  was  the  mother  of  the  wife 
of  Cooper,  the  great  American  novelist,)  wandered  about  in 
the  woods,  for  hours,  barefooted,  and  in  their  night  clothes. 
The  Council  of  Safety  promptly  disapproved  of  the  act ;  not 
so  much,  however,  because  of  its  barbarity,  but  because  of  the 
apprehension  that  the  British  would  retaliate. 

In  1T80,  General  Robertson,  who  had  succeeded  Tryon  as 
Royal  Governor  of  New  York,  wrote  Lord  George  Germain : 
"  Brigadier-General  De  Lancey  is  extremely  desirous  I  should 
mention  his  name  to  your  Lordship  by  this  very  occasion.  I 
can't  clo  this  without  saying  that  he  is  a  man  of  consequence 
in  this  country,  and  has  suffered  much  by  the  Rebellion,  the 
authors  of  which  he  is  earnest  to  punish." 

The  Whig  Government  of  New  York,  which  was  organized 
in  1777,  attainted  him  of  treason  and  confiscated  his  estate. 
He  went  to  England  at  the  peace,  but  did  not  long  survive. 
He  died  at  Beverley  in  1785,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight.  In 
the  "  Life  of  Van  Schaack,"  his  decease  is  mentioned  thus  by 
a  fellow-Loyalist :  "  Our  old  friend  has  at  last  taken  his  de 
parture  from  Beverley,  which  he  said  should  hold  his  bones ; 
he  went  off  without  pain  or  struggle,  his  body  wasted  to  a 
skeleton,  his  mind  the  same.  The  family,  most  of  them,  col 
lected  in  town  [London.]  There  will  scarcely  be  a  village  in 
England  without  some  American  dust  in  it,  I  believe,  by  the 
time  we  are  all  at  rest." 

"The  Gentleman's  Magazine"  announces  simply  the  place 

of  his  death,  his  name,  military  rank,  and  "  late  of  New  York, 

who  lost  a  large  estate  by  his  loyalty."     His  mother  and  the 

mother  of  Cortlandt  Skinner  were  sisters.     He  married  Phelia 

31  * 


366  DE  LANCEY. 

Franks,  of  Philadelphia,  who  died  in  Smith  Street,  Chelsea, 
England,  in  1811,  in  her  eighty-ninth  year.  One  of  his 
daughters,  Susan,  was  the  wife  of  the  celebrated  Lieutenant- 
General  Sir  William  Draper,  Knight  of  the  Bath  ;  another, 
Charlotte,  married  Field-Marshal  Sir  David  Dundas,  Bart, 
who  at  one  time  was  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  British 
Army ;  a  third  married  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Harris 
Cruder. 

O 

DE  LANCEY,  OLIVER,  JR.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  Briga 
dier-General  Oliver  De  Lancey.  General  in  the  British  Army. 
He  was  educated  in  Europe.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Revo 
lution  he  was  a  captain.  In  1776  he  became  a  major;  was  a 
lieutenant-colonel  as  early  as  1779,  and  succeeded  Andrd  as 
adjutant-general  of  the  army  in  America.  His  treatment  of 
General  Nathaniel  Woodhull,  an  estimable  Whig  of  New 
York,  who  became  his  prisoner  in  1776,  should  never  be 
forgotten.  There  seems  no  room  to  doubt,  that  when  that 
unfortunate  gentleman  surrendered  his  sword  to  De  Lancey, 
he  stipulated  for,  and  was  promised,  protection  ;  but  that  his 
Loyalist  countryman  basely  struck  him,  and  permitted  his  men 
to  cut  and  hack  him  at  pleasure.  And  it  is  no  less  certain 
that  the  General,  maimed  and  wounded,  was  denied  proper 
care,  attention,  and  accommodation,  and  that  he  perished  in 
consequence  of  the  barbarities  of  his  captors. 

I  find  De  Lancey  called  Barrack-Master-General  and  Major- 
General  in  1794  ;  and,  some  years  later,  Lieutenarit-General, 
and  General.  He  went  to  England  and  died  unmarried,  nearly 
at  the  head  of  the  British  Army  List.  He  was  the  father  of 
a  natural  son  and  daughter  who  bore  his  name,  and  who  were 
openly  acknowledged.  The  latter  was  living  in  1844.  Pos 
sibly,  the  former  was  the  Colonel  Oliver  De  Lancey,  who  died 
at  St.  Sebastian  in  1837,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  in  conse 
quence  of  wounds  received  in  battle.  It  seems  this  officer  had 
left  the  British  Army,  in  which  he  was  a  captain  in  the  60th 
Rifles,  and  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Queen  of  Spain  in 
the  war  with  the  Carlists. 

The  accuracy  of  the  text  as  relates  to  General  De  Lancey's 


DE  LANCET.  367 

conduct  to  General  Woodhull,  as  it  stood  in  the  first  edition 
of  this  work,  and  as  it  stands  above,  was  questioned  by  Mr. 
Cooper,  the  novelist,  over  his  own  signature,  in  an  article 
published  in  the  "  Home  Journal,"  New  York,  February  12, 
1848.  A  discussion  ensued  between  us  in  that  paper,  in  which 
Henry  C.  Van  Schaack,  Henry  Onderdonk,  Jr.,  and  the 
writer,  "  Vindex,"  participated.  A  review  of  it  is  not  neces 
sary  here,  since  the  question  between  us  was  one  of  evidence, 
and  to  be  determined  by  the  opinion  formed  of  the  credibil 
ity  of  writers  ;  except  the  following  passage  in  Mr.  Cooper's 
communication  of  May  6th,  which,  as  it  contains  the  denial 
of  the  party  accused,  I  insert  with  great  cheerfulness.  Mrs. 
Cooper  was  a  daughter  of  John  Peter  De  Lancey,  and  her 
husband,  after  stating  this  fact,  remarked  that  he  well  remem 
bered  a  conversation  with  her  father,  who  said :  "  They  en 
deavored  to  put  the  death  of  General  Woodhull  on  my  cousin, 
General  De  Lancey.  Colonel  Troup  made  an  affidavit,  which 
Gouveneur  Morris  published.  Troup  and  Morris  [both  were 
then  alive]  are  respectable  men,  certainly  —  but  Oliver  always 
indignantly  denied  it!"  The  italics  are  Mr.  Cooper's. 

Robert  Troup,  in  after  life,  was  the  personal  friend  and 
political  associate  of  Jay  and  Hamilton,  and  of  stainless  honor. 
At  the  time  of  Woodhull's  death,  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  Col 
onel  Lasher's  Battalion  of  New  York  Militia ;  and,  a  fellow- 
prisoner  with  the  General,  seems  to  have  listened  to  his  latest 
statement  of  his  treatment.  The  curious  reader  who  wishes 
to  examine  the  case  for  himself,  will  find  full  details  in  "  Oncler- 
donk's  Revolutionary  Incidents  of  Queen's  County."  In  1775, 
the  Committee  of  Safety  of  New  York  described  General  De 
Lancey  as  "  a  lusty,  fat,  ruddy  young  fellow,  between  twenty 
and  thirty  years  of  age."  He  died  at  Edinburgh  in  1820. 

DE  LANCEY,  JAMES.  Of  the  city  of  New  York.  Son  of 
Lieutenant-Governor  James  De  Lancey.  He  was  educated 
at  Eton,  and  at  Cambridge,  England.  He  obtained  a  com 
mission  in  the  British  Army,  and  in  the  campaign  against 
Ticonderoga,  during  the  French  war,  was  an  Aid  of  General 
Abercrombie.  Soon  after  the  decease  of  his  father,  he  sold 


368  DE  LANCET. 

his  commission.  He  inherited  the  principal  family  estates; 
and,  at  the  Revolutionary  era  was  one  of  the  richest  men  in 
the  country.  From  1769  to  1775,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Assembly,  and  his  election  was  regarded  as  a  tri 
umph  of  the  Episcopalians  over  the  Presbyterians.  In  the 
last-named  year,  he  went  to  England,  and  some  time  after 
was  followed  by  his  wife  and  children.  Attainted  of  treason, 
and  his  property  confiscated,  he  never  returned.  At  the 
formation  of  the  Loyalist  Commission  for  the  prosecution  of 
claims,  he  was  appointed  Agent  for  New  York,  and  became 
Vice-President  of  the  Board.  His  own  losses  were  large  and 
difficult  of  adjustment,  and  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Com 
missioners  for  some  days.  Excepting  Sir  William  Pepperell, 
Colonel  De  Lancey  appears  to  have  been  the  most  active  mem 
ber  of  the  agency ;  and  two  papers  on  the  subject  of  the  Loy 
alists'  claims  which  bear  his  signature  contain  much  informa 
tion.  These  papers  produced  no  effect,  except  as  is  stated  in 
the  preliminary  remarks  to  this  work  ;  no  discrimination  was 
finally  made  between  Loyalists  of  different  degrees  of  loyalty, 
merit,  and  grades  of  service.  In  this  respect  all  were  treated 
alike ;  but  the  Commissioners  were  not  required  to  revise  their 
proceedings,  as  was  asked  for  in  the  Address  to  Parliament ; 
nor  was  Mr.  Pitt  induced  to  change  his  purpose  of  making 
certain  rates  of  reduction  on  the  sums  reported  to  be  due  to 
claimants  by  the  Commissioners,  as  was  solicited  in  the  com 
munication  to  him. 

Indeed,  the  claimants  appear  to  have  acquiesced  in  the  deci 
sion  of  the  Minister  ;  and  the  Board  of  Agents,  after  Mr.  Pitt's 
plan  was  confirmed  by  an  Act  of  Parliament,  presented  an  Ad- 
ress  to  the  King.  De  Lancey  affixed  his  signature  to  this  Ad 
dress,  and  with  his  associates  had  an  audience  of  his  Majesty, 
and  "  had  the  honor  to  kiss  his  Majesty's  hand." 

The  time  and  place  of  his  decease  have  not  been  ascertained. 
His  wife  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Chief  Justice  Allen,  of 
Pennsylvania.  Five  children  grew  up,  namely  :  Charles,  who 
entered  the  Navy,  and  died  unmarried  ;  James,  who  in  1851 
was  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  First  Dragoon  Guards,  and  the 


DE  LANCEY  369 

only  male  survivor  of  the  family  ;  Anne  and  Susan,  who  were 
unmarried  and  living  in  1848  ;  and  Margaret,  who,  the  wife 
of  Sir  Juckes  Granville  Clifton,  Baronet,  died  childless. 

DE  LANCEY,  JAMES.  Of  West  Chester  County,  New  York. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Commandant  of  a  battalion  of  his  uncle,  the 
senior  Oliver  De  Lancey.  He  was  the  son  of  Peter  De  Lancey 
and  Elizabeth  Colden.  For  a  considerable  time  he  was  sher 
iff  of  West  Chester,  in  which,  owing  to  his  intimate  acquaint 
ance  with  the  county,  he  was  stationed  during  several  years 
of  the  Revolution.  "  His  corps  made  free  with  the  cattle  of 
that  part  of  the  country,  and  got  the  soubriquet  of  '  Cow- 
Boys,'  in  revenge  for  their  knowledge  of  beef."  In  1777 
according  to  Governor  Tryon,  he  raised  and  commanded  a 
troop  of  light-horse,  the  "  elite  "  of  the  Colony.  The  same 
year,  one  of  Putnam's  scouting  parties  surrounded  the  house 
in  which  he  lodged,  to  take  him  prisoner.  In  the  alarm,  he 
jumped  out  of  bed  and  hid  himself  under  it.  Discovered  in 
the  search,  he  was  dragged  out.  and  carried  to  camp.  While 
in  jail  at  Hartford,  he  received  the  following  letter  from  Mr. 
Jay,  who  was  an  old  friend  :  — 

44  SIR,  —  Notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  our  sentiments 
and  conduct  relative  to  the  present  contest,  the  friendship 
which  subsisted  between  us  is  not  forgotten  ;  nor  will  the 
good  offices  formerly  done  by  yourself  and  family  cease  to 
excite  my  gratitude.  How  far  your  situation  may  be  com 
fortable  and  easy,  I  know  not ;  it  is  my  wish,  and  it  shall  be 
my  endeavor,  that  it  be  as  much  so  as  may  be  consistent  with 
the  interest  of  the  great  cause  to  which  I  have  devoted  every 
thing  I  hold  dear  in  this  world.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of 
requesting  Mr.  Samuel  Broome  immediately  to  advance  you 
one  hundred  dollars  on  my  account.  Your  not  having  heard 
from  me  sooner  was  unavoidable.  A  line  by  the  first  oppor 
tunity  will  oblige  me.  Be  explicit,  and  avail  yourself  without 
hesitation  of  the  friendship  which  was  entertained  as  well  as 
professed  for  you  by 

"  Your  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

"  JOHN  JAY." 

"  Poughkeepsie,  January  2d,  1778." 


370  DE  LANCEY. 

In  July,  1781,  Colonel  De  Lancey  was  at  Morrisania,  and 
a  plan  was  formed  to  capture  or  destroy  his  unpopular,  nay, 
odious,  corps.  Washington  ordered  the  Duke  de  Lauzun  to 
proceed  in  advance,  and  directed  General  Lincoln  to  cooperate  5 
while  he  himself  put  the  army  in  motion,  "  in  order,"  as  he 
records  in  his  Diary,  "  to  cover  the  detached  troops  and  im 
prove  the  advantages  which  might  be  gained  by  them."  Ow 
ing  to  circumstances  which  I  have  not  room  to  state,  the 
expedition  failed.  At  the  peace,  the  commander  of  the  "  Cow- 
Boys  "  retired  to  Nova  Scotia. 

Mr.  Macdonald,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  New  York  His 
torical  Society,  in  1861,  gave  an  interesting  account  of  Colonel 
De  Lancey's  final  departure  from  West  Chester.  I  make  brief 
extracts  :  "  The  Outlaw  of  the  Bronx,"  he  said,  "  with  a  heavy 
heart  mounted  his  horse,  and  riding  to  the  dwellings  of  his 
neighbors,  bade  them  each  farewell."  Again  :  "  His  paternal 
fields  and  every  object  presented  to  his  view  were  associated 
with  the  joyful  recollections  of  early  life.  The  consciousness 
that  he  beheld  them  all  for  the  last  time,  and  the  uncertainties 
to  be  encountered  in  the  strange  country  to  which  banishment 
was  consigning  him,  conspired  to  awaken  emotions,  such  as 
the  sternest  bosom  is  sometimes  compelled  to  entertain.  It 
was  in  vain  that  he  struggled  to  suppress  feelings  which  shook 
his  iron  heart.  Nature  soon  obtained  the  mastery,  and  he 
burst  into  tears.  After  weeping  with  uncontrollable  bitterness 
for  a  few  moments,  he  shook  his  ancient  friend  by  the  hand, 
ejaculated  with  difficulty  the  words  of  benediction  —  '  God 
bless  you,  Theophilus ! '  and  spurring  forward,  turned  his 
back  forever  upon  his  native  valley." 

Colonel  De  Lancey  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  Nova  Scotia  in  1794.  He  died  at  Annapolis  in  that  Prov 
ince  in  the  year  1800.  Martha,  his  widow,  died  at  the  same 
place  in  1827,  aged  seventy-three. 

DE  LANCEY,  JAMES.  Of  New  York.  He  was  an  officer 
in  Oliver  De  Lancey's  Second  Battalion.  James  De  Lancey, 
Esq.,  Collector  of  his  Majesty's  Customs,  died  at  Crooked 
Island,  New  Providence,  in  1808,  and  was  perhaps  the  same. 


DE  LANCEY.  371 

DE  LANCEY,  JOHN.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  Peter  De 
Lancey,  of  West  Chester  County.  Succeeded  his  father  in 
the  House  of  Assembly.  In  1T75,  elected  a  member  of  the 
Provincial  Congress.  In  1776,  an  Addresser  of  Lord  and 
Sir  William  Howe. 

DE  LANCEY,  JOHN  PETER.  Of  New  York.  He  was  born 
in  that  city  in  1753.  He  was  educated  in  England  by  his 
brother  James.  He  entered  the  British  Army,  and  was  a 
captain.  He  participated  in  the  battles  of  Brandy  wine  and 
Monmouth,  and  was  in  service  at  the  South.  In  1789  he 
resigned  his  commission,  and  returned  with  his  wife  to  his 
native  State.  The  remainder  of  his  life  was  passed  in  West 
Chester  County,  and  he  died  there  in  1828.  Elizabeth,  his 
wife,  died  in  1820. 

DE  LANCEY,  STEPHEN.  Of  New  York.  Lieutenant-Col 
onel  Commandant  of  the  First  Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Vol 
unteers.  The  fragmentary  accounts  of  this  gentleman  are 
conflicting.  He  was  son  of  Peter,  or  of  the  senior  Oliver,  and 
in  17(55  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  city  and  county  of  Albany. 
The  King's  birthday,  in  1776,  "  was  ushered  in  with  firing  of 
guns,  and  other  rejoicings,  not  agreeable  to  the  inhabitants, 
and  in  the  evening  a  party  assembled  to  do  honor  to  the  day, 
with  Abraham  C.  Cuyler,  the  Mayor,  at  their  head,  and  were 
found  carousing,  and  singing  '  God  save  the  King.'  The  cit 
izens  became  exasperated,  rushed  in,  and  seized  Stephen  De 
Lancey  and  others,  and  carried  them  off  to  jail,  whence  they 
were  shortly  after  removed  to  Hartford,  Connecticut."  Some 
time  after  his  release  by  Governor  Trumbull  on  parole,  I  find 
him  in  command,  as  above  mentioned.  At  the  close  of  the 
war,  he  went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  in  1786  was  appointed 
member  of  the  Council. 

Omitting  several  discrepancies  in  facts  and  dates,  which  I 
cannot  reconcile,  I  insert  next  the  following  notice  which 
appeared  in  an  English  periodical  in  1799  :  — "  Died,  at 
Portsmouth,  in  America,  on  board  the  brig  Nancies,  Captain 
Tibbets,  from  Tobago,  Stephen  De  Lancey,  Esq.,  who,  for 
several  years  was  Chief  Justice  of  the  Bahama  Islands,  and 


372  DE  LANCEY.— DE  PEYSTER. 

continued  to  hold  that  office  in  1797,  since  when  (we  believe) 
he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Tobago.  His  remains  were 
attended  by  a  numerous  procession  of  friends  and  strangers, 
and  deposited  in  the  tomb  of  the  late  Governor  Wentworth." 
He  may  have  married  twice.  In  one  place  his  wife  is  called 
Esther  Rynderts  ;  in  another,  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Henry 
Barclay,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York.  In  1817,  it 
is  recorded  :  "  Died  at  Colchester,  England,  Mrs.  Cornelia 
De  Lancey,  relict  of  S.  De  Lancey,  Esq.,  formerly  Governor 
of  Tobago,  and  mother  of  Colonel  Sir  W.  F.  De  Lancey, 
H.  C.  B.,  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo."  Sir  William 
was  Quartermaster- General  of  Wellington's  army;  and  Susan 
De  Lancey,  his  daughter,  married  Sir  Hudson  Lowe,  who 
was  Napoleon's  keeper  —  I  must  use  that  offensive  word  —  at 
St.  Helena. 

DE  LANCEY,  WARREX.  Of  New  York.  At  the  engage 
ment  on  Chatterton's  Hill,  West  Chester  County,  in  1776, 
.De  Lancey  was  a  youth  of  fifteen  years.  "  While  the  British 
were  advancing  up  the  hill,  a  shot  struck  one  of  the  standard- 
bearers  dead."  Warren  "  instantly  seized  the  colors,  and, 
rushing  forward,  was  one  of  the  first  to  gain  the  summit, 
where  he  planted  them  in  the  ground."  For  this  act  of  bra 
very,  he  afterwards  received  a  cornet's  commission  from  Sir 
William  Howe,  in  the  17th  Dragoons,  commanded  by  Oliver 
De  Lancey  the  younger.  He  left  the  army  before  the  peace, 
and  died  in  the  State  of  New  York,  "near  me,"  says  the  late 
J.  Fenimore  Cooper,  (in  a  letter  dated  March  11,  1848) 
u  a  year  or  two  since,"  leaving  issue. 

DE  PEYSTER,  ABRAHAM.  Of  New  York.  The  De  Peys- 
ters  are  of  noble  descent.  Johannes  de  Peijster,  (Peister,  or 
Pester)  the  ancestor  of  this  family  in  this  country,  was  driven 
from  his  native  land  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  9th,  during  that 
monarch's  persecutions  of  his  Protestant  subjects.  He  settled 
in  New  Y'ork,  and  became  an  eminent  merchant.  "  Portions 
of  the  costly  articles  of  furniture,  the  elegant  and  massive 
family  silver  plate,  and  pictures,  perfect  gems  of  art  .... 
which  he  brought  out  from  Holland,  are  still  in  the  posses 
sion  of  his  descendants." 


DE   PEYSTER.  373 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  born  in  1753.  Two  of  his 
uncles,  and  one  of  his  great-uncles,  were  members  of  the 
Council ;  another  uncle  was  Chief-Justice  of  the  Colony  ; 
and  a  brother-in-law  was  in  command  of  a  regiment  of  Royal 
Artillery.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  account  for  the  loyalty  of 
one  so  young  and  thus  connected.  He  entered  the  King's 
service,  and  was  a  captain  in  the  New  York  Volunteers.  He 
was  second  in  command  at  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  in 
1780,  and,  after  the  fall  of  Ferguson,  hoisted  a  flag  as  a  signal 
of  surrender.  The  firing  immediately  ceased,  and  the  Royal 
troops  laying  down  their  arms,  the  most  of  which  were 
loaded,  submitted  to  the  conquerors  at  discretion.  It  seems 
not  to  be  generally  understood,  that  nearly  the  whole  of  Fer 
guson's  force  was  composed  of  Loyalists ;  but  such  is  the  fact. 
He  went  into  action  with  eleven  hundred  and  twenty-five 
men,  of  whom  only  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  were  Regulars. 
Of  the  Loyalists,  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  six  were 
killed,  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  wounded,  and  six  hun 
dred  and  twenty-nine  taken  prisoners.  The  loss  of  Regulars 
was  eighteen  slain  and  one  hundred  and  three  wounded  and 

& 

captured.  Captain  De  Peyster  was  paid  off  the  morning  of 
the  battle.  Among  the  coin  which  he  received  was  a  doub 
loon,  which  he  put  in  a  pocket  of  his  vest.  While  on  the 
field,  a  bullet  struck  the  gold  and  stopped,  and  his  life  was 
thus  saved.  Sims,  in  his  "  Life  of  Marion,"  relates  that 
Major  Postell,  "  who  was  stationed  to  guard  the  lower  part, 
of  the  Pedee,  succeeded  in  capturing  Captain  De  Peyster, 
with  twenty-nine  grenadiers."  "  De  Peyster,"  he  continues, 
"  had  taken  post  in  the  dwelling-house  of  Postell's  father. 
The  latter  had  with  him  but  twenty-eight  militia,  but  he 
knew  the  ground,  and  gaining  possession  of  the  kitchen, 
fired  it,  and  was  preparing  to  burn  the  house  also,  when  "  the 
Loyalist  captain  submitted.  A  gentleman  of  De  Peyster's 
lineage  informs  me  that  Sims  is  inaccurate  ;  that,  in  the 
court  of  inquiry  which  followed  the  surrender,  it  was  proved 
that  the  Whig  force  was  about  one  hundred,  and  entirely 
surrounded  his  kinsman's  band  of  "  twenty-nine."  Captain 
VOL.  i.  32 


374  I)E   PEYSTER. 

De  Peystcr  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace, 
and  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  that  city.  He  received  half- 
pay.  He  was  treasurer  of  that  Province,  and  a  colonel  in 
the  militia.  He  died  previous  to  1799,  as,  in  that  year,  leave 
was  given  to  sell  a  part  of  his  estate  in  the  hands  of  his 
administrator.  His  wife  (whom  he  married  in  1783)  was 
Catharine,  second  daughter  of  John  Livingston.  The  De 
Peysters  of  the  Revolutionary  era  were  allied  by  blood  or 
marriage  to  several  of  the  oldest  and  richest  families  in  New 
York,  and  were  themselves  persons  of  great  respectability. 

DE  PEYSTER,  FREDERICK.  Of  New  York.  Brother  of 
the  preceding.  While  a  minor,  he  was  in  command  of  a 
company  raised  for  the  protection  of  his  uncle,  Hon.  William 
Axtell,  a  member  of  the  Council,  who  lived  in  Flushing, 
Long  Island.  Subsequently,  he  was  a  captain  in  the  New 
Yrork  Volunteers.  In  swimming  a  river  on  horseback,  a  rifle 
bullet  passed  through  both  his  legs,  and  killed  his  horse.  At 
the  storming  of  Fort  Montgomery  in  1777,  a  detachment  of 
his  regiment,  which  was  a  part  of  the  Royal  force,  was  the 
first  to  enter  the  works.  In  1784  Captain  De  Peyster  was 
at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  received  the  grant  of  a  city 
lot.  In  1792  he  was  a  magistrate  in  the  county  of  Yrork. 
He  returned  to  the  United  States.  His  first  wife  was  daugh 
ter  of  Commissary-General  Hake  ;  his  second  wife,  daughter 
of  Gerard  G.  Beekman,  and  granddaughter  of  Lieutenant- 
Govern  or  Van  Cortlandt. 

DE  PEYSTER,  JAMES.  Of  New  York.  Brother  of  the 
preceding.  He  was  captain-lieutenant  in  the  King's  Ameri 
can  Regiment  under  Fanning,  and  entered  the  service  when 
he  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age.  His  superior  officers 
gave  him  high  "  testimonials  of  courage,  ability,  and  con 
duct,"  after  he  closed  his  military  life  as  a  Loyalist.  In 
1786,  he  was  commissioned  as  first  lieutenant  in  the  Royal 
Artillery,  commanded  by  his  brother-in-law,  Colonel  James. 
De  Peyster  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  handsomest  men 
in  the  British  Army. 

I  am  indebted  to  one  of  his  kinsmen  in  the  State  of  New 


DE  PEYSTER.  375 

York  —  who  has  contributed  several  curious  and  interesting 

o 

works  to  the  literature  of  the  country  —  for  an  account  of  his 
fate.  I  extract  as  freely  as  my  limits  will  allow.  The  date 
is  1793  ;  the  scene,  the  siege  of  Valenciennes  :  "This  siege 
was  remarkable,  in  that  a  greater  portion  than  usual  of  the 
operations  were  subterranean.  Mines  and  counter-mines 
innumerable  were  formed  and  sprung  by  both  besiegers  and 
besieged.  On  the  25th  July,  the  English  sprung  two  large 
ones  under  the  glacis  and  horn-work,  whose  immediate  result 
was  to  enable  them  to  establish  themselves  in  the  covered 
way.  Among  the  foremost,  as  usual,  our  hero  was  buried  by 
one  of  these  explosions,  and  reported  among  the  k  missing.' 
After  a  search  of  more  than  an  hour,  he  was  discovered  in 
a  state  of  partial  stupefaction.  Thus  he  may  have  been  said 
to  have  been  restored  to  his  regiment  after  having  been 
buried  alive. 

"  Three  days  afterwards,  Valenciennes  surrendered.  A 
large  share  in  this  success  was  accorded  to  the  British  Ar 
tillery.  The  British  now  advanced  and  occupied  a  camp  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Menin,  a  fortified  town  of  West  Flanders, 
on  the  Lys."  "  Again,"  says  my  informant,  "  on  the  18th 
August,  three  battalions  of  the  English  Guards,  and  detach 
ments  of  the  Royal  Artillery,  advanced  to  attack  the  French 
position.  The  enemy  occupied  a  redoubt  of  uncommon  size 
and  strength  upon  a  height  adjoining  to  the  high-road,  in 
front  of  the  village  of  Lincelles.  The  road  itself  was  de 
fended  by  other  works  strongly  palisadoed  ;  woods  and  ditches 
covered  their  flanks.  The  battalions  were  instantly  formed, 
and  advanced  under  a  heavy  fire,  with  an  order  and  intre 
pidity  for  which  no  praise  can  be  too  high. 

"  To  overcome  such  difficulties  demanded  great  sacrifices 
and  greater  exertions,  yet  the  fall  of  two  gallant  officers, 
and  the  brave  men  who  have  suffered  on  this  occasion,  must 
be  a  matter  of  reorct.  In  the  fore  front  of  this  glorious 

£3  O 

attack,  and  among  the  first  who  fell,  was  the  subject  of  this 
article." 

Still  again  :  "  Many  years  after,  my  grandfather,  Frederick 


376  DE  ROSSET.  -  DESCHAMP. 

De  Pcyster,  was  dining  with  his  second  cousin,  Frederick  C. 
White,  General  in  the  British  Army,  when  the  conversation 
turned  upon  the  latter's  military  service  in  Holland,  and  par 
ticularly  the  combat  of  Menin,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  of 
Lincelles.  4  While  advancing  at  the  head  of  my  corps,'  said 
the  General,  '  on  the  18th  of  August,  1798,  I  noticed  a 
remarkably  fine-looking  dead  officer,  with  his  cocked  hat 
slouched  over  his  face,  whom  his  men  had  raised  up  and 
fixed  in  an  erect  position,  by  taking  advantage  of  the  support 
afforded  by  the  crotch  of  a  tree.  Not  being  able  to  recognize 
him,  —  for  his  chin  had  sunk  down  upon  his  chest,  and  his 
chapeau  had  been  drawn  down  almost  so  as  to  cover  his  eyes, 
to  keep  it  from  falling  off,  —  I  turned  aside,  and,  lifting  his 
head,  removed  the  hat,  discovering  thereby,  to  my  grief  and 
horror,  that  it  was  your  beloved  brother  and  my  gallant 
cousin,  James,  who  had  been  shot  directly  through  the  fore 
head.'  '  Finally  :  "  Under  contract  of  marriage  to  a  lady  of 
fortune,  won  by  his  physical  and  mental  advantages,  he  post 
poned  his  union  until  the  close  of  the  campaign,  and  passed 
from  the  transient  endearments  of  love  to  the  lasting  embrace 

& 

of  death His  portrait  in  New  York  attracts  universal 

attention,  and  bears  ample  testimony  to  his  advantages  of 
person." 

DE  ROSSET,  LEWIS  H.  A  member  of  the  Council  of  North 
Carolina.  He  was  present  April  2,  1775,  and  gave  his  assent 
to  the  issuing  of  a  proclamation  to  forbid  the  meeting  of  a 
Whig  Convention  at  Newbern  on  the  following  day.  This 
Convention  was  for  the  purpose  of  electing  delegates  to  the 
Continental  Congress.  He  was  in  communication  with  Gov 
ernor  Martin  after  the  Royal  authority  had  ceased,  and  his 
Excellency  had  abandoned  the  palace.  In  the  war  against 
the  "  Regulators,"  he  was  called  Lieutenant-General.  A 
Whig,  who  knew  him  well,  said  he  was  u  a  cultivated  and 
elegant  gentleman."  He  was  expelled  from  North  Caro 
lina. 

DESCHAMP,  -         — .      Committed    suicide    at    Shelburne, 
Nova  Scotia,  about  the  year  1805. 


DEVEAUX.  377 

DEVEAVX,  ANDREW,  Ju.  Of  South  Carolina.  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  in  the  Loyal  Militia.  In  April,  1783,  he 
commanded  a  successful  expedition  against  the  Bahamas. 
His  own  account  of  the  affair  follows  :  —  "  I  have  the  honor 
to  inform  you,"  he  wrote,  "  that,  on  the  night  of  the  14th 
instant,  we  arrived  at  the  Salt  Key  with  our  fleet,  four  miles 
distant  from  the  Eastern  Fort,  which  consisted  of  thirteen 
pieces  of  cannon.  I  landed  about  a  mile  from  it,  a  little  after 
daylight,  with  my  formidable  body  of  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  men,  and  proceeded  against  it  with  all  possible  expedition, 
determined  to  storm  immediately  ;  but  there  being  a  plain  for 
some  distance  round  their  fortifications,  gave  the  enemy  an 
opportunity  of  discovering  us,  when  they,  in  great  confusion, 
abandoned  the  fort,  and  drew  up  in  a  field  near  a  wood.  As 
soon  as  I  came  up  with  them,  they  fired  upon  us.  My  young 
troops  charged  them,  made  two  prisoners,  and  drove  their  main 
body,  in  great  irregularity,  into  town.  We  sustained  no  loss  on 
our  side.  Captains  Wheeler  and  Dow  detached  about  seventy 
men  in  boats,  to  board  three  formidable  gallies  that  lay  abreast 
of  the  Eastern  Fort,  which  was  effected  about  the  time  of  my 
skirmish  with  the  enemy.  On  my  going  to  take  possession 
of  the  fort,  I  smelt  a  match  on  fire,  which  circumstance, 
together  with  their  abandoning  their  works  so  readily,  gave 
me  reason  to  suspect  their  intentions.  I  immediately  had  the 
two  prisoners  confined  in  the  fort,  and  halted  my  troops  at  some 
distance  from  it ;  but,  self-preservation  being  so  natural  a  re 
flection,  they  soon  discovered  the  match  that  was  on  fire,  which, 
in  half  an  hour,  woidd  have  been  communicated  to  the  maga 
zine  and  two  mines  that  were  laid  for  the  purpose.  About  two 
hours  after  1  had  taken  possession  of  the  fort,  his  Excellency 
Governor  Claraco  sent  out  a  flag,  giving  some  trifling  infor 
mation  of  a  peace.  1  supposed  his  information  entirely  for  the 
purpose  of  putting  oft'  time  and  amusing  me  ;  I,  therefore, 
shortly  after  the  return  of  his  flag,  demanded  the  surrender 
of  the  garrison  at  discretion,  in  fifteen  minutes.  In  answer  to 
which  his  Excellency  waved  the  surrender,  and  requested  a 
conference  with  me  personally,  when  he  made  offers  which  I 
32* 


378  DEVEAUX.  —  DE  VEBER. 

thought  prudent  to  accept,  and  to  establish  a  truce  between 
us  for  some  clays ;  but  fortunately  his  Excellency  was  discov 
ered  to  be  carrying  on  his  works,  and  not  adhering  so  strictly 
to  the  terms  of  the  truce  as  he  ought ;  this  gave  me  an  oppor 
tunity  of  commencing  hostilities  once  more  with  him.  I  im 
mediately  landed  eight  pieces  of  heavy  cannon  from  the  cap 
tured  vessels,  viz.,  one  brig  and  two  sloops,  with  twenty-four 
and  twelve-pounders,  with  which  I  stole  a  inarch  in  the  night 
of  the  17th  instant,  and  sunk  my  cannon  in  the  solid  rock  on 
Society-hill,  which  is  about  four  hundred  yards  from  the  grand 
fortress,  consisting  of  twenty-one  pieces  of  cannon,  and  two 
small  flanking  batteries  of  three  guns  each.  On  an  adjacent 
hill  I  erected  a  work  with  one  twelve  and  four  four-pounders, 
which  was  not  three  hundred  yards  distance  from  them,  com 
manded  by  Captain  M'Kenzie  ;  a  third  work  of  two  nine- 
pounders  was  not  complete.  The  enemy  kept  up  a  heavy 
fire,  and  throwing  of  shells  during  the  night,  which  had  no 
bad  effect.  On  the  morning  of  the  18th,  having  two  batteries 
ready  to  open  on  them,  and  a  third,  which,  though  not  com 
plete,  could  have  annoyed  them  greatly,  besides  two  gallies, 
with  twenty  four-pounders,  T  gave  his  Excellency  once  more 
an  opportunity  of  saving  the  lives  of  his  men  from  the  horrid 
consequences  attending  a  work  being  carried  by  storm  ;  upon 
which  his  Excellency  surrendered  the  garrison."  New  Prov 
idence  received  quite  an  accession  to  its  population  from  Loy 
alists  who  fled  from  the  Southern  States. 

DE  VEBER,  GABRIEL.  Of  New  York.  He  entered  the 
military  service  of  the  Crown,  and  in  1782  was  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  American  Volunteers.  He 
settled  in  New  Brunswick  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  a 
grantee  of  the  city  of  St.  John.  He  received  half-pay.  In 
1792  he  was  sheriff  of  the  county  of  Sun  bury,  and  colonel  in 
the  militia.  He  died  in  that  county.  Margaret,  his  wife,  third 
daughter  of  Doctor  Nathaniel  Hubbard,  of  Stamford,  Connect 
icut,  died  in  King's  County  in  1813. 

DE  VEBER,  GABRIEL,  JR.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  Ga 
briel.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  De  Lancey's  Third 


DEVOE.  —  DIBBLEE.  379 

Battalion.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at  the 
peace,  was  a  grantee  of  that  city,  and  received  half-pay.  He 
died  in  that  Province. 

DEVOE,  FREDERICK.  Of  West  Chester  County,  New  York. 
Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that 
city.  His  farm  of  three  hundred  acres,  at  New  Rochelle,  was 
confiscated,  and  given  to  Thomas  Paine,  by  the  Legislature  of 
New  York. 

DEVOE,  JAMES.  Of  the  State  of  New  York.  A  grantee 
of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1783.  He  died  at  Hampton, 
in  that  Province,  in  1833,  aged  seventy-nine. 

DIBBLEE,  JOSEPH.  Of  Danbury,  Connecticut.  Known  to 
be  a  Tory  and  to  shelter  Tories  ;  he  suffered,  at  the  hands  of 
the  Whigs,  for  his  principles  and  his  deeds.  He  and  his  father 
entertained  Tryon  at  Danbury,  when  that  ruthless  officer  was 
on  the  expedition  of  devastation  to  Connecticut.  Dibblee  \vas 
once  taken  out  of  bed  at  night,  by  men  in  disguise,  carried  to 
a  stream,  and  ducked  until  lie  expected  to  perish.  At  the 
peace  he  continued  in  his  native  town.  "  Time  softened  the 
asperities  of  feeling  "  against  him  ;  and,  when  visited  by  Los- 
sing  a  few  years  ago,  he  was  in  his  hundredth  year,  and  had 
"  lived  amono;  his  old  neighbors  and  their  descendants,  a 

(""!»  & 

worthy  and  respected  citizen."      He  was  never  married. 

DIBBLEE,  FREDERICK.  He  was  born  at  Stamford,  Connec 
ticut,  and  graduated  at  King's  College,  New  York.  He  was 
a  missionary  of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts,  with  a  salary  of  £50.  In  December,  1783, 
a  warrant  was  issued  upon  petition  of  the  Selectmen  of  Stam 
ford,  ordering  him  and  his  family  to  depart  that  town  forthwith, 
and  never  return.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  became 
Rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  at  Woodstock.  He  died  at 
that  place  in  18"2<>,  aged  seventy-three.  Nancy,  his  widow, 
died  at  the  same  place  in  1838,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

DIBBLEE,  FYLER.  Attorney-at-law,  Stamford,  Connecti 
cut.  In  1775  he  was  captain  of  the  first  military  company  of 
that  town,  and  a  person  of  consideration.  He  early  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  the  Whigs,  and  the  Assembly  of  Connecti- 


380  DIBBLEE.  —  DICKE. 

cut  appointed  commissioners  to  inquire  into  his  conduct.  In 
1778,  lie  and  sixteen  other  Loyalists  were  taken  prisoners  on 
Lono-  Island,  New  York,  by  a  party  of  Whigs,  who  landed 
there  from  boats.  His  property  in  Connecticut  was  confis 
cated.  In  1788  he  was  a  deputy  agent  for  the  transportation 
of  Loyalists  from  New  York  to  Nova  Scotia,  and,  in  April  of 
that  year,  sailed  from  Hunting-ton  Bay  in  the  ship  Union,  far 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  arrived  in  May.  He  was  ac 
companied  by  his  wife,  five  children,  and  two  servants.  In 
1784  he  received  the  grant  of  two  city  lots.  Some  years  after 
he  committed  suicide.  Various  reasons  have  been  assigned  for 
the  melancholy  termination  of  his  life. 

DIBBLEE,  RALPH.  Died  at  Kingston,  New  Brunswick,  in 
1799. 

DIBBLEE,  WALTER.  Of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  He  ar 
rived  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  the  ship  Union,  in  1783. 
The  Crown  granted  him  a  city  lot  in  1784.  He  died  at  Sus 
sex  Yale,  in  that  Province,  in  1817,  aged  fifty-three. 

DICK,  JOHN.  Of  New  York.  At  the  peace,  accompanied 
by  his  family,  he  went  from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova 
Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted  him  one  town  lot.  He  died 
at  St.  George,  New  Brunswick,  in  1839,  aged  ninety-five  years. 

DICKE,  WALDO.  Of  Warren,  Maine.  His  mother  was 
daughter  of  a  Scotch  laird,  and  unacquainted  with  any  kind 
of  domestic  labor.  He  was  the  first  child  born  to  the  emi 
grants  on  the  "Waldo  Patent,"  after  their  arrival,  and  was 
named  for  the  proprietor,  who  u  promised  to  give  him  a  lot  of 
land  as  soon  as  he  should  get  large  enough  to  wear  breeches  ; 

&  «r">  ZD 

but,  the  General  dying,  the  promise  was  never  fulfilled." 

During  the  Revolution,  he  was  too  active  on  the  side  of  the 
Crown  to  be  forgiven  by  the  people  of  Warren  ;  and  at  the 
peace  went  to  St.  Andrew,  New  Brunswick,  where  he  was 
employed  as  a  ship-master.  About  the  year  1794,  he  was 
confined  in  irons  at  New  London  for  some  offence  committed 
on  ship-board,  and  succeeded  in  releasing  himself  from  prison; 
but,  attempting  to  escape  by  swimming,  was  drowned.  'War 
ren  was  the  first  town  incorporated  in  Maine,  after  the  Whigs 


DICKSON.  —  DO  ANE.  381 

of  Massachusetts  assumed  the  government ;  and  was  named 
in  honor  of  the  distinguished  victim  of  June  17th,  1775. 

DICKSON,  ROBERT.  Settled  in  Nova  Scotia.  Was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  magistrate  of  the  District 
of  Colchester.  He  died  in  1885. 

DICKSON,  W.  Of  New  York.  He  commanded  a  company 
in  the  New  York  Volunteers.  In  1780  he  was  drowned  at 
Long  Island,  while  bathing.  His  body  was  found  and  interred. 

DINGEE,  SOLOMON.  He  died  at  Gagetown,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1836,  aged  eighty. 

DINGEY,  CHARLES.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Imprisoned  in 
1778,  on  the  charge  of  acknowledging  himself  to  be  still  a 

O  t"5         £? 

subject  of  George  the  Third  ;  of  refusing  to  take  the  oath 
prescribed  by  the  Whig  Government ;  of  declining  to  give  his 
parole  to  do  the  popular  cause  no  injury  ;  and  of  attempting 
to  go  into  Philadelphia  while  in  possession  of  the  Royal  Army. 
Released,  on  furnishing  three  sureties,  in  <£1000  each,  to  ap 
pear  at  Lancaster  within  ten  days,  to  answer. 

DINGWELL,  ARTHUR.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  that  city. 
In  1795  he  was  a  member  of  the  Loyal  Artillery  of  St.  John. 
In  1801,  advertised  that  he  was  about  to  leave  the  Province. 

DITMARS,  JOHN  J.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  Went 
to  Nova  Scotia,  and  died  there  in  1829,  aged  ninety-seven. 

Dixox,  CHARLES.  He  became  an  inhabitant  of  New  Bruns 
wick  at  the  peace,  or  perhaps  a  little  earlier,  and  continued  a 
resident  of  the  Province  until  his  death,  in  1817,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-nine. 

O         •/ 

DIXON,  JOSEPH.  He  died  at  Hampton,  King's  County, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1842,  aged  ninety-two. 

DOANE.  Of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania.  Five  broth 
ers,  namely  :  Moses,  Joseph,  Israel,  Abraham,  Mahlon.  They 
were  men  of  fine  figure  and  address,  elegant  horsemen,  great 
runners  and  leapers,  and  excellent  at  stratagems  and  escapes. 
Their  father  was  respectable,  and  possessed  a  good  estate. 
The  sons  themselves,  prior  to  the  war,  were  men  of  reputa 
tion,  and  proposed  to  remain  neutral.  But,  harrassed  person- 


382  DOANE. 

ally,  their  property  sold  by  the  Whigs  because  they  would 
not  submit  to  the  exactions  of  the  time,  the  above-mentioned 
determined  to  wage  a  predatory  warfare  upon  their  persecu 
tors,  and  to  live  in  the  open  air,  as  they  best  could  do.  This 
plan  they  executed,  to  the  terror  of  the  country  around  ;  act 
ing  as  spies  to  the  Royal  Army,  and  robbing  and  plundering 
continually  ;  yet  they  spared  the  weak,  the  poor,  and  the 
peaceful.  They  aimed  at  public  property  and  at  public  men. 
Generally,  their  expeditions  were  on  horseback.  Sometimes 
the  five  went  together  ;  at  others,  separately,  with  accomplices. 
Whoever  of  them  was  apprehended,  broke  jail;  whoever  of 
them  was  assailed,  escaped.  In  a  word,  such  was  their  course, 
that  a  reward  of  c£300  was  offered  for  the  head  of  each. 

Ultimately,  three  were  slain  ;  Moses,  after  a  desperate  fight, 
was  shot  by  his  captor  ;  Abraham  and  Mahlon  were  hung  at 
Philadelphia. 

Joseph,  before  the  Revolution,  taught  school.  During  the 
war,  while  on  a  marauding  expedition,  he  was  shot  through 
the  cheeks,  fell  from  his  horse,  and  was  taken  prisoner.  He 
was  committed  to  jail,  but  while  waiting  his  trial,  escaped  to 
New  Jersey.  A  reward  of  $800  was  offered  for  his  appre 
hension,  without  success.  He  resumed  his  former  employment 
in  New  Jersey,  and  lived  there  under  an  assumed  name,  nearly 
a  year  ;  but  finally  fled  to  Canada.  Several  years  after  the 
peace,  he  returned  to  Pennsylvania,  —  "  a  poor,  degraded,  bro 
ken-down  old  man,"  —to  claim  a  legacy  of  about  =£40,  which 
he  was  allowed  to  recover,  and  to  depart.  In  his  youth  he 
was  distinguished  for  great  physical  activity. 

The  only  separate  mention  of  Israel  is,  that  in  February, 
1788,  he  was  in  jail  ;  that  he  appealed  to  the  Council  of  Penn 
sylvania  to  be  released,  on  account  of  his  own  sufferings  and 
the  destitute  condition  of  his  family,  and  that  his  petition 
was  dismissed. 

Beside  these  five  brothers,  there  were  three  others  :  Joseph, 
their  father,  who  was  in  Bedford  County  jail,  September, 
1783  ;  Aaron,  who  was  under  sentence  of  death  at  Philadel 
phia,  October,  1784,  but  was  pardoned  by  the  Council,  March, 


DOBI5TE.  -  DOHERTY.  383 

178;")  ;  and  a  second  Aaron,  who  was  in  prison  in  1785,  and 
was  reprieved  under  the  gallows,  at  Newark,  New  Jersey,  in 
July,  1788. 

DOBISIE,  GEORGE.  He  died  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revo 
lution,  and  the  greater  part  of  his  property  was  lost  to  his 
family.  His  son,  William  Hugh  Dobbie,  captain  in  the  Brit 
ish  Navy,  died  in  England  in  1830,  aged  fifty-eight. 

DODD,  ROBERT.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Deserted  from  the 
State  galleys.  Joined  the  British  in  Philadelphia.  Captured 
at  sea.  In  jail  in  1779,  and  to  be  tried  for  treason. 

DODD,  — .  Was  in  the  military  service  of  the  Crown, 

and  engaged  in  the  battles  of  White  Plains  and  Monmouth, 
and  in  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  At  the  peace,  he  went  to 
New  Brunswick,  and  died  there.  His  widow,  Elizabeth,  died 
at  St.  Stephen  in  that  Province,  in  1849,  aged  one  hundred 
and  eleven  years.  She  was  born  on  board  of  a  British  ship- 
of-the-line,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  She  accompanied  her  hus 
band  in  the  Revolution,  and  endured  all  the  deprivations  and 
hardships  of  life  in  the  camp. 

DOGGIT,  JOHN.  Of  Middleborough,  Massachusetts.  He 
went  to  New  Brunswick,  and  died  on  the  Island  of  Grand 
Menan,  Bay  of  Fundy,  in  1830,  aged  seventy. 

DOHARTY,  EDMUND.  Of  Pownalborough,  Maine.  At 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  November,  1779,  and  employed  by 
the  Government.  Implicated  in  concealing  deserters  from 
two  ships-of-war,  was  dismissed.  "How  he  will  support  his 
family,"  said  the  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey,  "  I  know  not,  as  his 
reputation  is  greatly  blasted  by  his  foolish  conduct."  He 
went  subsequently  to  the  British  post  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Penobscot  ;  and  one  who  knew  him  there,  wrote  in  1782, 
"  Doharty  has  gone  out  on  a  cruise." 

DOHERTY,  MICHAEL.    Sergeant  in  the  Delaware  Regiment. 

O  CT> 

Taken  prisoner  and  confined.      A  British   recruiting  sergeant, 
"  up  to  all  manner  of  cajolery,"  — such  is  Michael's  story,— 
"by  dint  of  perpetual  blarney,  gained  my  good  will,  slipped 
the  King's  money  into  my  hand,  which   I   pocketed,  and  en 
tered  a  volunteer  in  the  17th   Regiment."     Michael's  corps 


384  DOMETTE.  -  DONGAN. 

was  at  Stony  Point  when  stormed  by  "  Mad  Anthony,"  and 
our  waor  fell  wounded  into  Whig  hands,  greatly  to  his  amaze 
ment,  for  "  he  thought  himself  snugly  out  of  harm's  way." 
His  wound  cured,  and  "  whitewashed  of  his  sins,"  his  old 
comrades  received  him  with  kindness.  In  the  battle  of  Cam- 
Jen  —  "  bad  luck  to  the  day  !  "  -  the  Delaware  Blues  were 
"  cut  up  root  and  branch,"  and  poor  Michael  made  prisoner. 
He  put  his  wits  at  work,  and  concluded  that  a  prison-ship 
was  no  better  than  a  jail  ;  and  so  'listed  under  Tarleton. 
44  Oh,  botheration,  what  a  mistake  !  "  The  battle  of  the 
Cowpens  soon  followed.  "  Howard  and  Old  Kirkwood  gave 
us  the  bayonet  so  handsomely,  that  we  were  taken  one  and 
all  ;  "  and  a  dragoon  "  added  a  scratch  or  two  to  the  account 
already  scored  on  my  unfortunate  carcass.  As  to  all  the  mis 
eries  that  I  have  since  endured,  afflicted  with  a  scarcity  of 
everything  but  appetite  and  musquitoes,  I  say  nothing  about 
them."  No  wonder  his  tale  ends  in  these  words:  "I  feel 
some  qualms  at  the  thought  of  battle,  since,  take  whatever 
side  I  will,  I  am  always  sure  to  find  it  the  wrong  one." 

DOMETTE,  JOSEPH.  Of  Boston.  Imprisoned  there.  He 
went  to  England,  and  for  a  time  received  a  pension  of  £80 
per  annum  from  the  Government.  He  became  an  Episcopal 
minister,  and,  probably,  settled  in  Ireland  or  Wales.  He 
passed  "  through  many  scenes  of  disappointment." 

DONALDSON,  SAMUEL.  Of  Virginia.  He  was  at  New 
York  in  Julv,  1783,  and  was  one  of  the  fifty-five  who  peti 
tioned  for  grants  of  lands  in  Nova  Scotia.  [See  Abijah  Wil- 


In  a  Loyalist  tract,  published  at  London  in  1784,  I  find  it 
said  that  he  was  a  Rebel  committee  man,  then  a  spy  at  New 
York,  and  that,  at  the  peace,  he  returned  to  his  estate  in  Vir 
ginia,  and  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Whig  Govern 
ment. 

DONGAN,  ROBERT.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Commandant  of 
the  Garrison  Battalion.  He  was  continued  in  service  at  the 
peace,  and,  1794,  was  commissioned  a  Major-General. 

DONGAN,  EDWARD  VAUGHAN.     Lieutenant-Colonel  Com- 


DOUD.—  DOWDNEY. 

maiulant  of  the  Tliird  Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers. 
lie  was  the  youngest  son  of  Walter  Dongan,  of  Staten  Island, 
and  was  l>red  to  the  law.  He  was  killed  in  his  twenty-ninth 
year,  August,  1777,  in  a  skirmish  on  Staten  Island.  He  left 
a  widow  ;  but  his  only  child  died  the  very  day  of  his  own 
death. 

DOUD,  -  — .  Of  Xorth  Carolina.  Captain  in  the  Loyal 
Militia.  Killed  in  1781,  in  the  attack  of  McNiel  on  Hills- 
borough,  when  Governor  Burke,  his  Council,  and  other  per 
sons  of  distinction,  were  taken  prisoners,  and  carried  to  Wil 
mington. 

DOUGHERTY,  EDWARD.  In  1770  he  embarked  at  Boston 
for  Halifax.  A  Loyalist  of  this  name  died  in  extreme  poverty 
on  the  river  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  where  lie  had  lived 
many  years,  about  the  year  1808. 

DOUGHTY,  -  — .  A  captain  in  De  Lancey's  Brigade  ; 
perished  in  1783,  on  his  passage  to  Nova  Scotia,  in  the  wreck 
of  the  transport  ship  Martha.  [See  James  Henley. ~\ 

DOUGHTY,  REV.  JOHN.  An  Episcopal  minister.  He  grad 
uated  at  King's  College,  New  York,  in  1770.  He  was  or 
dained  in  England  for  the  Church  at  Peekskill,  but  was  soon 
transferred  to  Schenectady. 

In  177 f>  political  troubles  put  an  end  to  divine  service,  and 
he  suffered  much  at  the  hands  of  the  popular  party.  In  1777 
he  obtained  leave  to  depart  to  Canada,  (after  having  been 
twice  a  prisoner)  where  he  became  chaplain  of  the  u  King's 
Royal  Regiment,"  of  New  York. 

In  1781  he  went  to  England;  but  returned  to  Canada  in 
1784,  and  officiated  as  missionary  at  Sorel.  He  resigned  his 
connection  with  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts,  in  1803. 

DOVE,  ABRAHAM.  Of  New  York.  Went  to  Shelburne, 
Nova  Scotia,  kept  a  hotel,  and  died  there  in  1803. 

DOVE,  JAMES.  Went  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia ;  was  a 
merchant  and  magistrate,  and  died  there  in  1824,  leaving 
three  sons. 

DOWDNEY,  NATHANIEL.     Of  New  Jersey.     Convicted  of 

VOL.  i.  33 


386  DOXSTADER.  —  DRAPER. 

"  cursing  all  Congresses  and  Committees,"  and  of  enmity  to 
his  country  ;  and,  January,  1776,  ordered  by  the  Committee 
of  Safety  to  be  disarmed,  and  to  be  kept  in  close  prison  until 
he  should  manifest  contrition  for  his  offences,  pay  the  cost  of 
proceedings  against  him,  and  give  security  for  his  future  good 
behavior. 

DOXSTADER,  JOHN.  A  Tory  leader.  On  an  incursion  to 
Currietown,  he  and  his  Indian  associates  took  nine  prisoners, 
who,  in  an  affair  at  a  place  called  Ourlagh,  New  York,  the 
day  succeeding  their  capture,  were  bound  to  standing  trees, 
tomahawked,  and  scalped.  The  bodies  of  these  unfortunate 
men  were  hastily  buried  by  friends.  But  one  of  them,  Jacob 
Diefendorff,  was  alive,  and  was  afterwards  found  on  the  out 
side  of  his  own  grave  ;  he  recovered  and  lived  to  relate  the 
story.  In  1780,  on  one  of  his  incursions  in  New  York,  Dox- 
stader  carried  away  a  horse  belonging  to  a  Whig  ;  but  com 
ing  to  the  same  region,  from  Canada,  after  the  war,  he  was 
arrested  by  the  owner,  and  compelled  to  pay  the  value  of  the 
animal. 

DRAKE,  JEREMIAH.  Residence  unknown.  Settled  in  New 
Brunswick  in  1783,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1846,  aged  eighty. 

DRAKE,  FRANCIS.  Died  at  Queensbury,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1836,  aged  eighty-one.  He  was  in  the  service  of  the  Crown 
for  some  years. 

DRAKE,  JOHN.  Innkeeper,  of  Newcastle,  Delaware.  Was 
required  in  1778  to  surrender  himself,  or  to  submit  to  the  for 
feiture  of  his  property. 

DRAKE,  URIAH.  Of  New  York.  Went  to  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city. 
He  died  at  Carleton,  in  that  Province,  in  1832,  at  the  age  of 
seventy. 

DRAPER,  RICHARD.  Printer  and  proprietor  of  the  "  Mas 
sachusetts  Gazette  and  Boston  News  Letter/'  He  was  the 
apprentice,  silent  partner,  and  successor  of  his  father,  John 
Draper.  He  was  early  appointed  printer  to  the  Governor 
and  Council,  which  employment  he  retained  during  life.  His 
paper  was  devoted  to  the  Government,  and,  in  the  controversy 


DRAPER.  —  DRURY.  387 

between  Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies,  gave  strong  support 
to  the  Royal  cause,  and  had  some  able  contributors.  He  was 
a  man  of  feeble  health,  and  was  remarkable  for  the  delicacy 
of  his  mind  and  gentleness  of  his  manners.  No  stain  rested 
upon  his  character.  He  was  attentive  to  his  affairs,  and  was 
esteemed  the  best  compiler  of  news  of  his  day.  He  died  June 
Oth,  1774,  aged  forty-seven  years,  without  children. 

DRAPER,  MARGARET.  Wife  of  Richard  Draper,  of  Bos 
ton.  With  the  aid  of  John  Howe,  continued  the  publication 
of  the  "Massachusetts  Gazette  and  Boston  News  Letter" 
from  the  time  of  her  husband's  death,  in  1774,  until  the  evac 
uation  of  Boston,  in  1770  ;  and  her  paper  was  the  only  one 
that  was  published  during  the  siege  of  that  town.  She 
accompanied  the  British  Army  to  Halifax,  and  proceeding 
to  England,  lived  there  for  the  remainder  of  her  days.  She 
died  about  the  year  1800.  The  British  Government  allowed 
her  a  pension.  Trnmbull,  in  his  "  McFingal,"  calls  her 
"  Mother  Draper.1' 

DREDDEN,  \V.  Of  New  York.  An  officer  in  a  band  of 
marauders. 

DREW,  JOSEPH.  A  grantee  of  the  city  of  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick  ;  he  died  there  in  1808. 

DRUMMOND,  ROBERT.  Major  in  the  Second  Battalion  of 
New  Jersey  Volunteers.  Of  this  battalion,  upwards  of  two 
hundred,  who  were  his  neighbors,  enlisted  under  his  influence 
and  persuasion.  A  very  large  proportion  of  them  fell  victims 
to  the  climate  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida,  or 
perished  in  battle.  Major  Drummond  himself  went  to  Eng 
land  at  the  peace,  and  died  at  Chelsea,  in  1789. 

DRUMMOND,  GEORGE.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Physician.  In 
1777,  confined  to  a  small  and  inconvenient  house,  and  de 
prived,  he  said,  of  his  practice,  of  his  means  of  support,  and 
of  his  health,  he  appealed  to  the  Council  for  such  enlargement 
as  they  should  think  reasonable. 

DRUMMOND,  REV.  WILLIAM.  Of  Connecticut.  Died  at 
Jamaica,  Long  Island,  in  1778. 

DRURY,   WAKE.     Of   Burlington,   New   Jersey.     One    of 


888  DRY.  — DUCHE. 

the  "  King's  Justices  of  the  Peace."  It  was  charged  that 
"  he  behaved  scandlessly."  He  owned  that  he  said  the  Whigs 
had  no  rio-ht  to  draft  men  ;  that  the  drafted  men  were  fools 

O 

if  they  went  ;  and  that,  if  they  would  come  to  him,  he  would 
protect  them  for  not  going.  The  County  Committee  sent  him, 
under  guard  of  ten  persons,  to  the  Provincial  Congress.  In 
conducting  him  to  the  city  wharf,  the  order  of  procession  was. 
as  the  record  has  it,  "  Ensign  Smith  ;  Fifer  Haight ;  Four 
Guards;  Justice  Wake;  Four  Guards."  His  Majesty's  for 
midable  magistrate  was  soon  back,  however,  to  Burlington 
from  Trenton,  on  his  way  to  Salem,  to  be  put  in  jail  until 
further  orders.  Of  the  order  and  number  of  "  guards," 
when  he  departed,  history  is  silent. 

DRY,  WILLIAM.  Of  North  Carolina.  He  was  Collector 
of  Customs,  and  a  member  of  the  Council.  When  Mr. 
Quincy,  of  Massachusetts,  was  on  his  Southern  tour  in  1778, 
he  was  his  guest,  and  recorded  in  his  journal,  that  "  Colonel 
Dry's  mansion  is  justly  called  the  house  of  universal  hospital 
ity."  At  this  time,  it  is  probable,  from  circumstances  related 
by  Mr.  Quincy,  that  Mr.  Dry  was  inclined  to  the  popular  side. 
But,  by  the  records  of  the  Council,  it  appears  that,  April  12, 
1775,  he  u  took  again  the  oath  appointed  to  be  taken  by  Privy 
Counsellors."  The  Board  at  this  meeting  dismissed  from  a 
commission  of  the  peace  Colonel  John  Harvey,  one  of  the 
most  zealous  Whigs  in  North  Carolina,  and  with  the  consent 
of  all  the  members  present.  Yet  I  find  that,  after  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution  in  1776,  Colonel  Drv  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  new,  or  Whig  Council.  But  a  man  who 
changed  so  often  was  not  a  Whio-. 

O  iT? 

DUCHE,  JACOB,  D.  D.  An  Episcopal  minister  of  Phil 
adelphia.  He  was  born  in  that  city,  and  graduated  at  the 
college  there  in  1757.  He  entered  the  ministry,  and  after 
the  first  Continental  Congress  assembled,  in  1774,  officiated 
as  chaplain  on  the  7th  of  September,  and  was  thanked  by  a 
vote  of  that  body,  "  for  the  excellent  prayer  which  he  com 
posed  and  delivered  "  on  the  occasion.  At  this  time  he  was 
Assistant  Rector  of  two  churches  ;  but  on  the  death  of  Rev. 


DUCHE. 

Doctor  Richard  Peters,  an  Episcopal  minister  of  Philadel 
phia,  in  1775,  was  appointed  his  successor.  In  1770  lie  was 
elected  chaplain  to  Congress,  with  a  salary.  The  following 
is  the  form  of  prayer  which  he  made  use  of  after  Independ 
ence  was  declared  :  — 

"  O  Lord,  our  heavenly  Father,  high  and  mighty,  King  of 
kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  who  dost  from  thy  throne  behold  all 
the  dwellers  on  earth,  and  reignest  with  power  supreme  and 
uncontrolled  over  all  kingdoms,  empires,  and  governments, 
look  down  in  mercy,  we  beseech  thee,  on  these  our  American 
States,  who  have  fled  to  thee  from  the  rod  of  the  oppressor, 
and  thrown  themselves  on  thy  gracious  protection,  desiring  to 
be  henceforth  dependent  only  on  thee  ;  to  thee  have  they  ap 
pealed  for  the  righteousness  of  their  cause  ;  to  thee  do  they 
now  look  up  for  that  countenance  and  support,  which  thou 
alone  canst  give :  take  them,  therefore,  heavenly  Father, 
under  thy  nurturing  care  ;  give  them  wisdom  in  council,  and 
valor  in  the  field  ;  defeat  the  malicious  designs  of  our  cruel 
adversaries  ;  convince  them  of  the  unrighteousness  of  their 
cause,  and  if  they  still  persist  in  their  sanguinary  purposes, 
oh  !  let  the  voice  of  thine  own  unerring  justice,  sounding  in 
their  hearts,  constrain  them  to  drop  the  weapons  of  war  from 
their  unnerved  hands  in  the  day  of  battle.  Be  thou  present, 
O  God  of  wisdom,  and  direct  the  councils  of  this  honorable 
assembly ;  enable  them  to  settle  things  on  the  best  and  surest 
foundation,  that  the  scene  of  blood  may  be  speedily  closed, 
that  order,  harmony  and  peace  may  be  effectually  restored, 
and  truth  and  justice,  religion  and  piety,  prevail  and  flourish 
amongst  thy  people  ;  preserve  the  health  of  their  bodies  and 
the  vigor  of  their  minds  ;  shower  down  on  them,  and  the 
millions  they  represent,  such  temporal  blessings  as  thou  seest 
expedient  for  them  in  this  world,  and  crown  them  with  ever 
lasting  glory  in  the  world  to  come.  All  this  we  ask  in  the 
name,  and  through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  thy  Son  and 
our  Saviour.  Amen." 

He  officiated  as  chaplain  about  three  months,  when  he  aban 
doned  the  Whigs,  and  resigned.  In  October,  1777,  he  wrote 


390  DUCHE. 

an  extraordinary  letter  to  Washington,  which  was  delivered 
by  Mrs.  Ferguson,  and  which  the  Commander-in-Chief  trans 
mitted  to  Congress.  The  objects  of  this  communication  were, 
to  cast  a  general  odium  on  the  Whig  cause,  to  induce  Wash 
ington  to  apostatize  and  resign  his  command  of  the  army,  or, 
at  the  head  of  it,  to  force  Congress  immediately  to  desist  from 
hostilities,  and  to  rescind  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
If  this  is  not  done,  said  Duche,  "you  have  an  infallible  re 
source  still  left ;  negotiate  for  America  at  the  head  of  your 
army."  In  the  course  of  this  letter  he  represents  Congress 
in  a  most  despicable  view,  as  consisting  of  weak,  obscure 
persons,  not  fit  associates  for  Washington  ;  and  he  speaks  of 
the  members  from  New  England,  especially,  with  great  indel 
icacy.  The  army,  in  his  estimation,  both  officers  and  men, 
were  possessed  neither  of  courage  nor  principle,  and  were 
taken  from  the  lowest  of  the  people. 

Various  motives  were  assigned  for  his  apostasy  ;  some  be 
lieved  that  it  was  occasioned  by  the  gloomy  aspect  of  affairs  ; 
others  supposed  that  it  arose  from  a  change  in  his  sentiments 
respecting  the  justice  of  the  Whig  cause.  But  whatever  was 
the  reason,  the  aspersions  contained  in  his  letter  admit  of  no 
excuse.  After  quitting  Philadelphia,  Doctor  Duche  went  to 
England,  and  became  chaplain  to  an  asylum  for  orphans.  He 
was  a  man  of  brilliant  talents,  an  impressive  orator,  had  a  fine 
poetical  taste,  and  figured  as  a  preacher  even  in  London.  He 
was  banished,  and  his  estate  was  confiscated.  His  house  was 
bought  by  Thomas  McKean,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

In  April,  1783,  he  solicited  AVashington's  influence  to  effect 
a  repeal  of  the  Act  that  kept  him  in  banishment  from  his  na 
tive  country,  "  from  the  arms  of  a  dear  aged  father,  and  the 
embraces  of  a  numerous  circle  of  valuable  and  long-loved 
friends."  Washington  replied  that  his  feelings  as  an  indi 
vidual  were  favorable,  but  that  his  case  must  continue  to  rest 
with  the  authorities  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1790  the  laws  of 
that  State  having  allowed  the  refugee  Loyalists  to  return, 
Dr.  Duchd  came  back  to  Philadelphia  in  shattered  health. 


DUCKINFIELD.  391 

He  died  in  1798,  aged  about  sixty  years.  One  account  states 
that  his  decease  occurred  in  1794;  another,  in  1790.  His 
wife,  a  sister  of  Francis  Ilopkinson,  was  killed  at  Philadel 
phia  in  1797,  by  the  falling  of  a  sand-bag  on  her  head,  while 
opening  a  window.  His  daughter  Sophia  married  John  Henry, 
a  person  whose  real  or  supposed  connection  with  our  politics, 
about  the  time  of  the  war  of  1812,  caused  considerable  sensa 
tion.  Dr.  Duche  published  several  sermons  before  his  defec 
tion,  and  two  volumes  in  London,  in  1780. 

DFCKIXFIELD,  SIR  NATHANIEL,  Baronet.  Of  North  Car 
olina.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  North  Carolina, 
and  owned  large  tracts  of  land  in  that  Colony.  He  "  was 
gay,  good-humored,  and  popular."  ....  In  1772  he  went 
to  England,  when  his  friends  prevailed  on  him  to  purchase  a 
commission  in  the  British  Army.  When  the  war  broke  out 
he  could  not  be  induced  to  serve  against  America,  and  when 
his  regiment  was  sent  out,  he  contrived  to  remain  behind. 
In  1779  his  estate  was  confiscated.  James  Iredell,  who,  after 
the  organization  of  the  Federal  Government  was  a  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  Baronet,  wrere  on  very  intimate 
terms.  They  became  rivals  in  love  ;  "  but  the  contest  was 
so  generously  conducted,  and  the  deportment  of  each  so 
marked  by  magnanimity,  that,  so  far  from  their  friendship 
beino-  shaken,  their  mutual  esteem  was  increased." 

O 

The  Baronet's  "  proposal  met  with  a  courteous  but  prompt^ 

refusal His  disappointment  so  affected  him,  that  he 

deserted  the  Province,  to  which  he  never  returned ;  subse 
quently,  when  his  estate  was  forfeited,  '  most  ably  and  elo 
quently  did  Mr.  Iredell  plead  his  cause.'  They  regularly  cor 
responded  until  the  close  of  1791."  Mr.  Iredell  records  in 
his  journal,  Saturday,  December  19th,  1772  :  "  I  have  this 
morning  had  the  happiness  to  receive  a  most  pleasing  friendly 
letter  from  Sir  N.  D.,  wherein  he  discovers  a  most  noble  soul, 
generously  extolling  in  terms  of  the  highest  admiration  a  con 
duct  severely  killing  his  hopes,  and  congratulating  me  on  a 
happiness  raised  on  the  ruin  of  his.  Excellent  young  man  ! 
may  your  lot  be  a  happy  one  ;  though  indeed  it  will  be  very 


392  DUCKINFIELD. 

difficult  to  fix  your  affections  on  one  so  likely  to  insure  it," 
&c.  On  the  20th  of  January,  1773,  the  Baronet  wrote  his 
rival :  "  I  don't  know  any  couple  so  deserving  of  each  other 
as  yourselves,  and  as  it  was  not  my  good  fortune  to  be  the 
happy  possessor  of  Miss  Hannah  Johnston's  affections,  I  re 
joice  exceedingly  that  such  felicity  was  destined  for  you. 
Happy  may  you  long  continue  to  be  together.  I,  perhaps, 
may  never  be  an  eye-witness  of  it.  My  intentions  of  settling 
in  America  are  now  at  an  end,  and  I  am  in  hopes  some  time 
or  other  to  acquaint  you  with  the  fulfilling  of  your  wish  that 

I  may  select  some  lady  here  for  my  own If  I  should 

again  visit  Carolina,  I  pledge  you  my  assurance  that  the  in 
crease  of  happiness  to  yourself  shall  not  in  the  least  abate 

the  ardor  of  my  friendship  for  you  and  your  partner 

At  present  I  think  to  amuse  myself  a  little  while  in  the  army, 
and  have  a  promise  from  Major-General  Burgoyne  of  the  next 
vacancy  which  shall  happen  in  his  Light  Dragoons,  if  I  shall 
not  satisfy  myself  sooner,"  &c.  Again,  in  a  letter  five  days 
later,  he  said:  "I  wish  you  would  acquaint  me  whether  my 
addressing  Miss  Johnston  was  publicly  known  in  North  Car 
olina,  and  what  she  thought  of  my  persisting  to  write  to  her." 
March  10th,  of  the  same  year,  he  wrote :  "  I  have  now  the 
same  reason  to  induce  me  to  stay  in  England  that  I  had  to 
remain  in  Carolina,  and  which  will,  perhaps,  be  crowned  with 
success.  I  am  determined  to  marry  as  soon  as  I  can  meet 
with  a  lady  whose  person  and  fortune  will  be  suitable,  and 
who  shall  think  me  suitable  for  her,"  &c. 

On  the  14th  of  May  :  "  I  am  now  entirely  free  from  the  last 
tincture  of  that  unhappy  situation  of  being  in  love,  but  how 
long  the  warmth  of  my  constitution  will  permit  me  to  be  thus 
cool,  I  will  not  venture  to  promise.  I  am,  however,  destined 
to  a  cold  part  of  the  island,  to  join  the  Queen's  (or  7th)  Reg 
iment  of  Dragoons,  now  quartered  at  Edinburgh,  in  which  I 
have  purchased  a  cornetcy."  On  the  9th  of  August,  1773  : 
"  My  passions  are  violent,  and  I  cannot  govern  them.  Since 
my  last  to  you,  in  which  I  told  you  of  one  disappointment  which 
I  had  met  with,  I  have  had  another  with  a  young  lady  who,  'tis 


DUCKTNFIELI).  398 

supposed,  will  be  a  fortune  of  near  XI 00, 000,  and  though  I 
was  much  distressed  at  first,  I  got  the  better  of  it  in  a  short 
time.  I  saw  Captain  Messenger  at  Liverpool  ;  he  told  me  of 
my  c  penchant '  for  Miss  Hannah,  and  I  think  said  my  mother 
mentioned  it  to  him.  I  did  not  expect  that  it  could  be  kept  a 
secret."  Again,  in  the  same  letter:  "I  am  quite  out  of  con 
ceit  with  matrimony  at  present,  but  can't  promise  how  long  it 
will  continue.  There  are  some  very  pretty  girls  in  this  neigh 
borhood."  In  1783  he  wrote  that  he  had  been  in  command 
of  a  troop  of  dragoons  three  years  ;  that  he  was  then  aide-de 
camp  to  General  Warde,  with  "  nothing  to  do,"  and  in  a  few 
days  was  to  marry  the  General's  niece,  whose  constitution 
would  not  allow  her  to  cross  the  sea.  A  year  later,  he  said 
he  had  made  an  exchange  with  an  officer  in  a  regiment  of  foot, 
and  should  retire  on  half-pay.  "  I  am  most  perfectly  happy," 
he  continued,  "  and  much  fonder  of  my  wife  than  when  I  mar 
ried.  She  is  not  at  all  handsome,  but  what  you  may  call  <i 
devilish  good  one."  Again,  in  1784,  he  mentioned  that  he  was 
the  father  of  a  boy  who  was  a  charming  fellow,  and  attempted 
to  talk  and  to  scold  ;  that  Lady  Duckinfield  was  soon  to  pre 
sent  him  with  another  child ;  and  closed  with  the  remark : 
"  You  will  not  be  surprised  at  my  being  desirous  that  the 
plantation  should  be  sold,  and  the  money  secured  for  my  use 
after  my  mother's  death,  as  I  have  entirely  given  up  all 
thoughts  of  settlino-  in  Carolina  ;  and  should  I  have  a  lanie 

o  &  ?  o 

family  it  will  be  necessary,  in  order  to  keep  the  younger  ones 
from  being  carpenters  and  mantua-makers."  In  June,  1785, 
he  announced  the  birth  of  a  second  son  before  the  first  was  a 
year  old  ;  and  he  discoursed  about  a  numerous  progeny,  and 
of  his  parent's  decease,  in  terms  that  caused  Mr.  Iredell  to  say 
in  communicating  with  a  friend  :  "  I  am  quite  vexed  (between 
ourselves)  at  the  levity  and  indifference  of  Sir  N.  Duckin- 
field's  letter,  wrote  in  answer  to  mine  giving  a  very  particular, 
and  to  me  very  affecting,  account  of  his  mother's  death.  He 
bears  it  with  all  the  cursed  stoicism  of  a  philosopher ;  and  is 
still  afraid  that  his  wife  will  ruin  him  with  a  great  number  of 
children.  He  will  deserve  a  Xantippe  for  his  next  wife,  and 


394  DUDLEY. 

a  double  set  of  children  into  the  bargain.  It  is  so  intolerable 
to  see  a  young  man  so  insensible  and  so  avaricious."  The 
noticeable  points  of  a  letter  dated  in  February,  1789,  are  the 
birth  of  a  daughter,  the  allowance  by  the  British  Government 
of  £3000  for  his  losses  as  a  Loyalist,  and  the  expression  of 
joy  that  the  Confiscation  Act  did  not  include  "  the  negroes 
which  he  had  lent  to  his  mother." 

The  Baronet  died  in  1824.  His  wife  was  Katharine  Warde, 
who  deceased  in  1823.  His  son  Samuel,  captain  in  the  Dra 
goons,  was  drowned  in  1810.  His  son  John  Lloyd  succeeded 
him,  but  dying  without  issue  in  1836,  the  title  devolved  on 
his  third  son,  Henry  Robert,  the  present  Baronet.  His  fourth 
son,  Charles  Egerton,  is  (1855)  in  the  military  service  of  the 
East  India  Company.  His  daughter  Katharine  married  R.  P. 
Smith,  M.  D.  His  family  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  in  the 
county  of  Chester,  and  is  said  to  be  descended  from  the  Nor 
man  house  of  De  Massey. 

DUDLEY,  CHARLES.  Last  Royal  Collector  and  Surveyor 
of  the  Customs  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island.  He  was  son  of 
Thomas  and  Mary  (Leavitt)  Dudley,  of  a  highly  respectable 
family  of  Staffordshire,  England,  and  was  born  in  that  county 
in  1737.  When  Robinson  was  transferred  to  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  the  Customs,  Boston,  and  in  1768,  he  was 
appointed  his  successor  at  Newport.  In  November,  1775,  he 
fled  to  the  Rose  ship-of-war.  The  Whig  Committee  seized  his 
personal  property  soon  after,  sold  a  part,  and  stored  the  rest 
in  Providence.  The  Committee  voted,  subsequently,  "that 
one  of  his  best  beds,  with  the  furniture,  be  presented  to  Gen 
eral  Lee,"  who  was  in  command  in  Rhode  Island,  and  very 
busy  with  the  Loyalists.  In  1776  Mr.  Dudley  embarked  at 
Boston  for  Halifax,  with  the  British  Army,  and  went  to  Eng 
land  the  same  year.  He  died  at  London  in  1790. 

His  only  child  who  lived  to  mature  years,  Charles  E.  Dud 
ley,  of  Albany,  New  York,  was  a  Senator  in  Congress  from 
1828  to  1833,  and  died  in  1841.  The  Dudley  Observatory  is 
named  in  honor  of  this  gentleman  ;  and  his  widow,  Blandina 
(Bleecker)  Dudley,  contributed,  at  various  times,  the  sum  of 


DUFIFELD.  -  DULANY.  395 

875,000  to  erect  and  endow  it.  She  died  at  Albany,  March, 
181)3.  In  her  will,  in  addition  to  her  former  gifts,  she  be- 
queathed  the  sum  of  $30,000  for  the  maintenance  in  the 
Dudley  Observatory,  which  she  established,  of  a  scientific 
chair,  to  be  known  as  the  "  Blandina  Professorship."  This 
puts  the  institution  in  an  excellent  financial  position,  giving 
it  a  permanent  endowment  of  $80,000,  which  is  safely  in 
vested,  and  yields  an  annual  income  of  $5600. 

DUFFIELD,  JOHN.  Of  New  Jersey.  In  1774  the  Whigs 
destroyed  some  tea  owned  by  him,  by  Stacy  Hepburn,  and  a 
Captain  Allen,  the  value  of  which  they  attempted  to  recover 
by  suit  at  law.  Joseph  Reed,  of  Philadelphia,  was  their  coun 
sel,  but  they  failed. 

DUFFUS,  CHARLES.  He  died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1818,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 

DULANY,  DANIEL.  Of  Maryland.  Early  in  the  contro 
versy,  he  and  Charles  Carroll  engaged  in  a  warm  newspaper 
discussion,  which  attracted  much  interest.  Dulany  wrote 
over  the  signature  of  Antilore^  and  his  Whig  antagonist 
adopted  that  of  the  First  Citizen.  Dulany  was  an  eminent 
lawyer,  and  was  considered  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men 
of  lu's  time.  Before  the  Revolution  he  held  the  offices  of  Sec 
retary  and  Attorney-General  of  Maryland,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  Council.  Few  memorials  remain  of  him,  but  he  is  ever 
mentioned  in  terms  of  the  highest  respect.  Mr.  Quincy,  of 
Massachusetts,  while  on  his  journey  to  the  South  in  1773, 
spoke  of  spending  "  three  hours  with  the  celebrated  Daniel 
Dulany." 

Though  a  Loyalist  at  last,  he  stood  up  manfully  against  the 
Stamp  Act.  These  words,  uttered  in-  1765,  are  glorious: 
"  A  garment  of  linsey-wolsey,"  said  he,  "  when  made  the  dis 
tinction  of  patriotism,  is  more  honorable  than  the  plumes  and 
the  diadem  of  an  emperor,  without  it.  Let  the  manufacture 
of  America  be  the  symbol  of  dignity  and  the  badge  of  virtue, 
and  it  will  soon  break  the  fetters  of  distress." 

He  survived  the  Revolution  several  years.  "  Pie  was  one 
of  the  most  refined  gentlemen  and  flourishing  counsellors  of 


396  DULANY. 

his  day,  and  dignified  his  profession  by  the  liberality  and  grace 
with  which  he  exercised  it.  Like  Edward  Rutledge,  of  South 
Carolina,  he  took  no  fee  from  the  widow  and  orphan.  We 
can  barely  remember  his  benevolent  mien  and  silver  locks, 
as,  when  superannuated,  he  walked  the  streets  of  Baltimore  ; 
his  chief  pleasure,  after  all  his  high  aspirations,  grave  labors, 
and  bright  successes  of  life,  being  the  distribution  of  ginger 
bread,  with  which  he  was -constantly  supplied,  for  the  crowd 
of  children  who  watched  and  followed  their  venerable  pro 
vider." 

DULANY,  LLOYD.  Of  Annapolis,  Maryland.  On  the  27th 
of  May,  1774,  the  Whigs  of  that  city  passed  the  following 
Resolution  :  "  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  that  the 
gentlemen  of  the  law  of  this  Province  bring  no  suit  for  the 

o  » 

recovery  of  any  debt  due  from  any  inhabitant  of  this  Province 
to  any  inhabitant  of  Great  Britain,  until  the  said  Act  [Boston 
Port  Bill]  be  repealed."  Three  days  after,  Mr.  Dulany's  name 
appeared  at  the  head  of  the  following  Protest :  "  Dissentient. 
1.  Because  we  are  impressed  with  a  full  conviction,  that  this 
resolution  is  founded  in  treachery  and  rashness,  inasmuch  as  it 
is  big  with  bankruptcy  and  ruin  to  those  inhabitants  of  Great 
Britain,  who,  relying  with  unlimited  security  on  our  good 
faith  and  integrity,  have  made  us  masters  of  their  fortunes  ; 
condemning  them  unheard,  for  not  having  interposed  their 
influence  with  Parliament  in  favor  of  the  town  of  Boston, 
without  duly  weighing  the  force  with  wrhich  that  influence 
would  probably  have  operated,  or  whether  in  their  conduct 
they  were  actuated  by  wisdom  and  policy,  or  by  corruption 
and  avarice. 

"  2.  Because,  whilst  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  are 
partially  despoiled  of  every  legal  remedy  to  recover  what  is 
justly  due  to  them,  no  provision  is  made  to  prevent  us  from 
being  harrassed  by  the  prosecution  of  internal  suits,  but  our 
fortunes  and  persons  are  left  at  the  mercy  of  domestic  credi 
tors,  without  a  possibility  of  extricating  ourselves,  unless  by  a 
general  convulsion  ;  an  event,  in  the  contemplation  of  sober 
reason,  replete  with  horror. 


DUL  ANY.  —  DUNB  AR.  397 

"  3.  Because  our  credit,  as  a  commercial  people,  will  expire 
under  the  wound  ;  for  what  confidence  can  possibly  be  reposed 
in  those  who  shall  have  exhibited  the  most  avowed  and  most 
striking  proof  that  they  are  not  to  be  bound  by  obligations  as 
sacred  as  human  invention  can  suggest." 

Dulany  was  killed  in  a  duel  with  the  Reverend  Bennet  Al 
len,  Hyde  Park,  London,  in  1782.  The  seconds  were  a  Mr. 
De  Lancey  and  a  Mr.  Robert  Morris,  both,  I  conclude,  Loyal 
ists.  The  cause  of  the  fatal  meeting  was  an  article  in  a  Lon 
don  newspaper,  in  1779,  touching  the  character  of  Dulany, 
(among  other  Americans)  with  whom  Allen  was  not  pleased. 
Walter  Dulany,  son  of  Walter  Dulany  of  Maryland,  married 
the  widow  of  Lloyd  Dulany,  in  1785. 

DULANY,  DANIEL.  Of  Maryland.  Son  of  Walter.  At 
first,  he  enrolled  himself  in  the  militia,  and  seemed  inclined 
to  the  popular  cause  ;  but  refusing  to  sign  the  Test,  he  in 
curred  the  displeasure  of  the  Whigs,  and  fled.  Attainted,  and 
estate  confiscated. 

DUMARESQUE,  PHILIP.  Merchant,  of  Boston.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775.  In 
1776,  with  his  family  of  seven  persons,  he  went  to  Halifax. 
Two  years  later  he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  was 
appointed  Collector  of  the  Customs  at  New  Providence,  Nas 
sau,  and  died  there.  His  wife  was  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Sylvester  Gardiner.  His  children  were  —  Philip,  a  captain  in 
the  Royal  Navy  ;  James,  who  married  Sarah  Far  well,  of  Vas- 
salborough,  Maine ;  Francis,  a  physician  in  Jamaica  ;  and  a 
daughter,  Rebecca.  Persons  of  his  lineage  are  now  living  in 
Boston  and  vicinity.  Perhaps  the  Lieutenant  Dumaresque 
of  the  British  Navy,  attached  to  the  Hawke  sloop-of-war, 
drowned  in  1812,  was  also  of  his  family.  The  Hawke  lay 
off  Calspot  Castle,  where  she  was  employed  to  attend  the 
Duke  of  Clarence.  Lieutenant  D.  went  up  to  Southampton 
to  dine  with  Admiral  Ferguson  ;  on  his  return,  his  boat  upset. 

DUNBAK,  DANIEL.     Of  Halifax,  Massachusetts.     Was  an 
officer  in  the  militia,  and  in  1774  a  mob  demanded  of  him  the 
surrender  of  the  colors  of  his  company.     He  refused,  when  the 
VOL.  i.  34 


398  DUNBAR. 

multitude  broke  into  his  house,  took  him  out,  forced  him  to 
get  upon  a  rail,  where  he  was  held  and  tossed  up  and  down 
until  he  was  exhausted.  He  was  then  dragged  and  beaten, 
and  gave  up  the  standard  to  save  his  life.  In  1776  he  went 
to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  with  the  Royal  Army.  In  1778  he 
was  proscribed  and  banished. 

DUNBAR,  JESSE.  Of  Halifax,  Massachusetts.  Bought  some 
fat  cattle  of  a  Mandamus  Councillor  in  1774,  and  drove  them 
to  Plymouth  for  sale.  The  Whigs  soon  learned  with  whom 
Dunbar  had  presumed  to  deal,  and  after  he  had  slaughtered, 
skinned,  and  hung  up  one  of  the  beasts,  commenced  punishing 
him  for  the  offence.  His  tormentors,  it  appears,  put  the  dead 
ox  in  a  cart,  and  fixing  Dunbar  in  his  belly,  carted  him  four 
miles,  and  required  him  to  pay  one  dollar  for  the  ride.  He 
then  was  delivered  over  to  a  Kingston  mob,  who  carted  him 
four  other  miles,  and  exacted  another  dollar.  A  Duxbury 
mob  then  took  him,  and  after  beating  him  in  the  face  with 
the  creature's  tripe,  and  endeavoring  to  cover  his  person  with 
it,  carried  him  to  Councillor  Thomas's  house,  and  compelled 
him  to  pay  a  further  sum  of  money.  Flinging  his  beef  into 
the  road,  they  now  left  him  to  recover  and  return  as  he  could. 

DUNBAR,  MOSES.  Of  Bristol,  Connecticut.  He  was  born 
in  Plymouth,  Connecticut.  He  was  convicted  of  holding  a 
captain's  commission  under  Sir  William  Howe,  and  of  enlist 
ing  men  for  the  Royal  Army,  by  the  Superior  Court,  January, 
1777,  and  soon  after,  while  under  sentence  of  death,  cleared 
himself  of  his  irons,  knocked  down  the  sentries,  and  escaped 
from  jail,  but  was  apprehended.  The  "  Connecticut  Courant  " 
announced  that,  "  On  Wednesday,  March  19,  Moses  Dunbar 
will  be  executed.  A  sermon  will  be  preached  at  the  jail  to  the 
prisoner,  by  the  Rev.  Abraham  Jarvis  of  Middleton  ;  and  a 
sermon  in  the  North  Meeting-house  to  the  spectators,  by  the 
Rev.  Nathan  Perkins."  There  was  still  another  homily  by 
Rev.  Nathan  Stone,  which  was  printed,  and  which  closes  thus  : 
"  Bloody  and  deceitful  men  shall  not  live  out  half  their  days." 
Dunbar  was  hung  on  the  day  designated,  (March  19,  1777,) 
in  the  presence  of  a  "  prodigious  concourse  of  people." 


DUNHAM.—  DUNMORE.  399 

His  son  Moses  came  to  an  untimely  end.  His  widow,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Esther  Adams,  retired  to  the  British  Army, 
and  remained  with  it  some  time  ;  but  returned  to  Bristol,  mar 
ried  Chauncey  Jerome,  a  Loyalist,  and  with  her  husband,  went 
to  Nova  Scotia.  At  the  peace,  they  settled  at  their  old  home 
in  Connecticut,  and  were  the  parents  of  several  children.  She 
died  in  1825,  aged  sixty-six.  Dunbar's  house  was  standing  in 
1859. 

DUNHAM.  Captain  Asher  Dunham  and  Daniel  Dunham 
were  among  the  Loyalists  who  went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1788,  and  both  received  grants  of  city  lots.  John 
Dunham,  who  emigrated  the  same  year,  and  who  was  a  cap 
tain  in  the  militia  of  that  Province,  died  at  Carleton  in  1829, 
aged  eighty-one. 

DUNMOKE,  EARL  OF.  Last  Royal  Governor  of  Virginia. 
He  succeeded  to  the  peerage  in  1756  ;  was  appointed  Gov 
ernor  of  New  York  in  1770  ;  assumed  the  Executive  Chair 
of  Virginia  in  1772,  and  administered  the  government  until 

&  o 

the  popular  party  compelled  him  to  seek  safety  on  board  of  a 
ship-of-war.  He  soon  collected  a  number  of  vessels,  and  was 
joined  by  many  Loyalists  who  had  become  obnoxious,  and 
who,  from  necessity  or  fear,  abandoned  their  homes.  Wash 
ington  said,  December,  1775,  "  I  do  not  think  that  forcing  his 
Lordship  on  shipboard  is  sufficient.  Nothing  less  than  depriv 
ing  him  of  life  or  liberty  will  secure  peace  to  Virginia,  as  mo 
tives  of  resentment  actuate  his  conduct  to  a  degree  equal  to 
the  total  destruction  of  that  colony." 

Lord  Dunmore,  with  his  fleet  of  fugitives,  continued  on  the 
coasts  and  rivers  of  Virginia  for  a  part  of  the  year  1776  ;  and 
as  every  place  was  now  strictly  guarded,  these  unhappy  peo 
ple,  who  had  put  themselves  under  his  protection,  underwent 
great  distresses.  The  heat  of  the  weather,  the  badness  and 
scarcity  of  water  and  provisions,  with  the  closeness  and  filth 
of  the  small  vessels  in  which  they  were  crowded,  by  degrees 
produced  that  malignant  distemper  which  is  known  by  the 
name  of  the  jail  or  pestilential  fever.  This  dreadful  disor 
der  particularly  affected  the  Negroes,  most  of  whom  it  swept 


400  DUNMORE. 

away.  After  various  adventures,  in  which  they  were  driven 
from  place  to  place,  and  from  island  to  island,  by  the  Virgin 
ians,  several  of  the  vessels  were  driven  on  shore  in  a  gale  of 
wind,  and  the  wretched  fugitives  became  captives  to  their  own 
countrymen.  At  length,  every  place  being  shut  against  the 
remainder,  and  neither  water  nor  provisions  to  be  obtained, 
even  at  the  expense  of  blood,  it  was  found  necessary,  towards 
the  beginning  of  August,  1776,  to  burn  the  smaller  vessels, 
and  to  send  the  remainder,  amounting  to  between  forty  and 
fifty  sail,  with  the  exiles,  to  seek  shelter  in  Florida,  Bermudas, 
and  the  West  Indies.  In  this  manner  ended  the  hopes  enter 
tained  by  the  employment  of  the  Negroes  to  suppress  the 
rebellion  in  the  Southern  colonies.  This  measure  tended 
infinitely  to  inflame  the  discontents  in  those  colonies,  without 
adding  anything  to  the  strength  of  the  Royal  arms. 

He  is  represented  as  both  needy  and  greedy.  "  To  get 
money  was  the  rule  of  action  which  included  his  whole  admin 
istrative  conduct."  In  1779  his  name  appears  in  the  Con 
fiscation  Act  of  New  York.  He  was  appointed  Governor  of 
the  Bermudas  in  1786.  He  died  in  England  in  1809.  His 
daughter  Augusta  married  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  sixth  son  of 
King  George  Third.  Lady  Dunmore,  who  died  at  South- 
wood  House,  near  Ramsgate,  in  1818,  was  Elizabeth,  daugh 
ter  of  the  Earl  of  Galloway ;  to  her  daughter  Virginia  (thus 
named  at  the  request  of  the  Council  and  Assembly  of  Vir 
ginia)  she  bequeathed  her  villa  at  Twickenham  and  all  her 
personal  property.  In  1848  a  London  paper  announced  the 
death  of  Sir  Augustus  Frederic  d'Este,  son  of  his  late  Royal 
Highness  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  by  Lady  Augusta  Murray, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Dunmore,  to  whom  his  Royal  High 
ness  was  married  at  Rome,  in  1793.  Upon  the  death  of  the 
Duke,  in  1843,  Sir  Augustus  Frederic  preferred  his  claim  to 
succeed  to  the  titles  and  honors  of  his  father,  and  the  claim 
was  heard  by  the  House  of  Lords  in  that  year,  when,  after 
proof  was  given  of  the  marriage  of  his  father  and  mother,  and 
of  the  birth  of  Sir  Augustus  Frederic  in  1794,  a  question  was 
submitted  to  the  Judges  upon  the  effect  of  the  Royal  Marriage 


DUNN.  —  EASTERBROOKS.  401 

Act,  12  George  III.  The  Judges  pronounced  their  opinion 
to  be  that  that  statute  had  incapacitated  the  descendants  of 
George  II.  from  contracting  a  legal  marriage  without  the  con 
sent  of  the  Crown,  either  within  the  British  dominions  or 
elsewhere,  whereupon  the  House  of  Lords  resolved  that  Sir 
Augustus  Frederic  had  not  established  his  claim.  The  Hon. 
Charles  Augustus  Murray,  who  visited  the  United  States  in 
1830,  and  again  in  1851,  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  Lord  Dun- 
more. 

DUNN,  JOHN.  Of  North  Carolina.  Major  in  the  militia. 
In  1775,  notoriously  inimical  to  the  Whigs,  he  was  seized  and 
sent  to  South  Carolina.  Frances,  his  wife,  petitioned  the 
Provincial  Congress  of  North  Carolina  in  his  behalf,  without 
success.  He  was,  however,  released  ;  but  apprehended  again 
in  1776,  he  was  allowed  the  liberty  of  living  in  Salisbury  on 
parole,  on  condition  that  he  should  appear  once  every  day  at 
the  house  of  Maxwell  Chambers,  and  give  security  in  <£1000 
for  his  good  behavior. 

DUNN,  JOHN.  Of  New  York.  He  left  the  United  States 
at  the  termination  of  hostilities,  and  was  one  of  the  found 
ers  of  St.  Andrew,  New  Brunswick,  and  through  life  contrib 
uted  to  its  improvement  and  prosperity.  For  many  years  he 
held  the  honorable  and  lucrative  post  of  Comptroller  of  his 
Majesty's  Customs  at  that  port.  He  died  at  St.  Andrew, 
April  14,  1829,  aged  seventy-six.  His  wife,  Elizabeth,  sur 
vived  until  January,  1835,  and  at  her  decease  was  seventy- 
three.  He  was  a  man  proverbially  kind,  liberal,  and  hos 
pitable. 

DUYCKINGS, .     Of  New    Jersey.     Colonel    in    the 

militia.  In  1777  Colonel  Weedon  wrote  the  Council  of  Penn 
sylvania  that  he  was  an  "infamous  character;"  that  he  had 
been  in  the  service  of  the  Whigs  ;  but,  when  the  British 
entered  New  Jersey,  he  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Crown.  Weedon  sent  him  prisoner  to  the  Council,  by  order 
of  Washington. 

EASTERBROOKS,  JAMES.     He  was  an  early  settler  of  New 
Brunswick,  and  was  a  magistrate  and  member  of  the  House 
34* 


402  EDDY.  — EDSON. 

of  Assembly  for  many  years.  He  died  at  Sackville,  in  that 
Province,  in  1842,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five. 

EDDY,  CHARLES,  and  THOMAS.  Of  Philadelphia,  Iron 
mongers.  Attainted  of  treason  and  their  estates  confis 
cated.  Charles  was  ordered  to  Virginia  ;  went  to  England, 
and  was  in  London,  July,  1779. 

EDEN,  SIR  ROBERT,  Baronet,  and  last  Royal  Governor  of 
Maryland.  His  wife  was  Caroline,  sister  and  co-heir  of  the 
last  Lord  Baltimore. 

He  was  appointed  Governor  in  1768,  and  continued  in 
office  until  1776,  when  the  Royal  authority  ceased.  But  as 
he  was  accomplished,  kind,  and  courteous,  the  Whigs  allowed 
him  to  remain  in  Maryland  without  restraint.  When,  how 
ever,  some  despatches  addressed  to  him  by  Lord  George  Ger 
main  were  intercepted,  his  arrest  was  ordered  by  General 
Lee.  The  Whig  Council  of  Safety  declined  compliance ;  and 
and  Sir  Robert  was  permitted  to  embark  for  England,  in  the 
sloop-of-war  Fowey.  He  was  created  a  Baronet,  September, 
1776.  He  returned  to  Maryland  in  1784,  "  to  look  after  his 
lady's  estate;"  and  died  near  Annapolis  in  1785.  His  son, 
Sir  William  Eden,  (subsequently  Lord  Auckland)  who  de 
ceased  in  1814,  was  one  of  the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Planta 
tions  in  1776,  one  of  the  Commissioners  to  America  in  1778, 
and,  later,  Ambassador  to  Spain  and  to  Holland. 

EDGETT,  JOEL.  Of  New  York.  He  went  to  New  Bruns 
wick  at  the  peace,  and  resided  there  until  his  death,  February, 
1841,  at  the  house  of  his  son  John,  at  Hillsborough,  aged 
eighty  years. 

EDMISTON,  REV.  WILLIAM.  Of  Maryland.  Episcopal 
minister.  In  1775  the  Committee  of  Baltimore  ordered  him 
to  appear  and  answer  to  the  charges  against  him  ;  he  obeyed, 
and  made  a  written  explanation  which  was  voted  satisfactory. 
In  November,  1776,  he  was  at  Albany,  New  York,  and  asked 
General  Gates  to  allow  him  to  go  to  General  Howe  on  pri 
vate  business,  and  promised  to  return  at  any  specified  time. 
He  was  in  England  previous  to  July,  1779. 

EDSON,    JOSIAH.      Of  Bridgewater,    Massachusetts.       He 


EDWARDS.  403 

was  a  noted  politician  of  the  time,  and  was  known  by  the  two 
most  odious  appellations  which  prevailed  ;  namely,  as  a  Re- 
scindcr  and  a  Mandamus  Councillor.  Hutchinson  speaks 
of  him  in  1771,  when  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  as  one  of  the  several  gentlemen  of  that  body, 
who,  in  common  times,  would  have  had  great  weight,  but 
who,  then,  discouraged  by  the  great  superiority  of  the  num 
bers  against  them,  were  inactive.  In  1774  Mr.  Edson  was 
driven  from  his  house  by  a  mob,  and  was  compelled  to  reside 
in  Boston,  under  protection  of  the  British  troops  ;  and  at  the 
evacuation,  in  177(5,  he  accompanied  the  army  to  Halifax. 
He  went  from  Halifax  to  New  York,  and  died  in  that  city, 
or  on  Long  Island,  not  long  after  his  arrival.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  University,  a  colonel  in  the  militia,  a 
deacon  of  the  church,  and  a  respectable,  virtuous  man.  He  is 
alluded  to  in  "  McFingal,"  as  "that  old  simplicity  of  Edson." 

EDWARDS,  MORGAN.  A  Baptist  clergyman.  He  was  born 
in  Wales  in  1722,  and  came  to  America  in  1761.  He  was 
at  first  pastor  of  a  church  in  Philadelphia,  and,  subsequently, 
labored  in  various  places,  either  as  lecturer  or  preacher.  Op 
posed  to  the  Revolution,  he  gave  up  the  ministry  during  the 
war.  He  was  an  eccentric  man,  and  among  his  acts  was 
the  preaching  of  his  owrn  funeral  sermon.  He  lived  a  quarter 
of  a  century  after  the  solemn  farce,  dying  in  1795,  aged 
seventy-two.  He  published  many  sermons,  and  left  nume 
rous  manuscripts. 

EDWARDS,  STEPHEN.  Of  New  Jersey.  An  amiable 
young  man,  who  joined  the  adherents  to  the  Crown  at  New 
York,  near  the  close  of  the  war.  Sent,  by  Colonel  Taylor  of 
a  Loyalist  corps,  to  Monmouth  County  to  ascertain  the  Whig 
force  there,  he  \vas  arrested  at  midnight,  in  his  father's  house, 
in  bed  with  his  wife,  disguised  in  a  female's  night-cap,  by  a 
party  under  Jonathan  Forman,  a  Whig  captain  of  horse, 
taken  to  Freehold,  tried  as  a  spy  by  a  court-martial,  and  two 
days  afterward,  executed.  His  father  and  mother  arrived  in 
town  the  morning  of  his  death,  to  inquire  into  his  situation; 
and  returned  home  with  his  corpse.  The  Forman  and 
Edwards  families  had  been  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship. 


404  ELLIOT. 

ELLIOT,  ANDREW.  Of  New  York.  He  was  Collector 
of  the  Customs  for  the  port  of  New  York,  from  about  the 
year  17(34  until  the  Revolution,  and  performed  his  official 
duties  in  a  manner  highly  satisfactory.  His  first  difficulty 
with  the  people  of  a  serious  nature  occurred  in  1774,  when 
he  seized  some  fire-arms,  and  was  threatened  with  a  visit  from 
the  "  Mohawks  and  River  Indians,"  or,  in  other  words,  with 
a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers.  After  the  Royal  Army  took  pos 
session  of  New  York,  he  continued  to  perform  his  duties  of 
Collector,  and  during  the  war  held  various  important  offices. 
In  1782  he  was  not  only  at  the  head  of  the  Customs,  but  was 
Lieutenant-Governor,  Receiver-General  of  Quit-rents,  Super 
intendent-General  of  Police,  and  Chief  of  the  Superintendent 
Department,  established  by  Sir  William  Howe  in  1777.  And 
when,  in  1780,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  made  his  last  effort  to  save 
Andre,  Mr.  Elliot  was  one  of  the  three  eminent  persons  who 
were  sent  to  confer  with  Washington.  Mr.  Elliot's  estate  in 
New  York  was  confiscated  ;  and  the  Executive  Council  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  reach  property  possessed  by  him  in  that 
State,  ordered  by  proclamation,  that  on  his  failing  to  appear 
within  a  specified  time,  to  take  his  trial  on  the  charge  of 
treason,  he  should  stand  attainted. 

His  family  sailed  for  England  in  the  Nonesuch,  of  64  guns, 
June,  1783  ;  and  his  furniture  was  sold  at  auction  in  Septem 
ber  of  that  year,  at  his  house  in  Bowery  Lane.  His  daughter 
Elizabeth  married  the  tenth  Lord  Cathcart,  in  1779  ;  and  Sir 
George  Cathcart,  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  Inkerman,  in  the 
Crimean  war,  1854,  was  the  fourth  son  of  this  marriage. 
The  present  Earl  (1857)  is  the  second  son.  Mr.  Elliot's 
daughter  Eleanor  married  the  Right  Hon.  Robert  Digby, 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet,  and  died  in  England  in  1830  ;  her  first 
husband  was  a  Jauncey,  of  New  York. 

ELLIOT,  CAPTAIN  —  — .  Noted  for  his  revengeful  dis 
position  and  infamous  deeds.  In  the  documents  of  the  time, 
McKee,  Elliot,  and  Simon  Girty,  are  mentioned  together,  and 
as  forming  a  sort  of  triumvirate.  The  three  were  imprisoned 
by  the  Whigs  at  Pittsburgh,  but  made  their  escape,  and  in 


ELLWOOD.  -  ERVING.  405 

1778  traversed  the  country  to  enlist  the  savages  against  the 
Rebels.  The  effects  of  their  councils  were  long  felt  and  de 
plored.  After  the  Revolution,  and  during  the  Indian  troubles 
of  Washington's  administration,  Elliot's  hostile  feelings  towards 
the  country  which  he  had  abandoned,  were  sufficiently  mani 
fest  to  deserve  universal  and  lasting  detestation.  He  was 
dismissed  from  the  British  Colonial  service  about  the  year 
1801,  without  trial,  but  whether  for  misconduct,  is  unknown 
to  the  writer. 

ELLWOOD,  JOHN.  Of  the  county  of  Bucks,  Pennsylvania. 
In  1778  he  was  tried  for  acting  as  pilot  to  the  Royal  fleet  and 
army,  in  the  invasion  of  the  State  by  Sir  William  Howe,  and 
sentenced  "  to  be  hanged  by  the  neck  till  he  be  dead."  He 
was  not  executed.  In  1783  Humphreys  wrote  Galloway, 
that  Mr.  Ellwood  "  was  out  of  his  head  at  the  time  of  his 
trial,  and,  indeed,  ever  since  the  army  left  Philadelphia." 
The  records  of  the  Council  showed  that  he  was  pardoned 
July  15,  1789. 

EMES,  JOHN.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Deserted  from  the  State 
galleys.  Joined  the  British  at  Philadelphia.  Captured  at 
sea  in  1779,  tried  by  a  court-martial,  and,  September  20th,  in 
prison. 

EMERSON,  THOMAS.  A  physician.  He  died  at  Frederic- 
ton,  New  Brunswick,  in  1843,  aged  eighty-one. 

ENSOR,  GEORGE.  Of  Southwark,  Pennsylvania.  At 
tainted  of  treason  and  property  confiscated.  At  the  peace, 
accompanied  by  his  family  of  five  persons,  he  went  from  New 
York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted 
him  one  town  lot.  His  losses  in  consequence  of  his  loyalty 
were  estimated  at  <£600.  He  died  at  Shelburne  in  1805, 
leaving  several  children. 

ERVING,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
eminent  merchants  in  America,  and  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  Massachusetts  for  twenty  years.  The  Hon.  Robert  C. 
Winthrop,  his  great-grandson,  in  a  public  address  in  1845, 
thus  refers  to  him  :  "  A  few  dollars  earned  on  a  Commence 
ment  Day,  by  ferrying  passengers  over  Charles  River  when 


406  ERVING. 

there  was  no  bridge  —  shipped  to  Lisbon  in  the  shape  of  fish, 
and  from  thence  to  London  in  the  shape  of  fruit,  and  from 
thence  brought  home  to  be  reinvested  in  fish,  and  to  be  reen- 
tered  upon  the  same  triangular  circuit  of  trade  —  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  largest  fortune  of  the  day,  a  hundred  years 
ago."  Mr.  Erving  died  in  Boston  in  1786,  aged  ninety- 
three. 

ERVING,  JOHN,  JR.  Of  Boston.  He  graduated  at  Har 
vard  University  in  1747.  In  1760  he  signed  the  Boston  Me 
morial,  and  was  thus  one  of  the  fifty-eight  who  were  the  first 
men  in  America  to  array  themselves  against  the  officers  of  the 
Crown.  But  in  1774  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson, 
and  the  same  year  was  appointed  a  mandamus  councillor.  In 
1776  he  fied  to  Halifax,  and  went  thence  to  England.  In 
1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished  ;  and  in  1779  his  prop 
erty  was  confiscated  under  the  Conspiracy  Act.  He  died  at 
Bath,  England,  in  1816,  aged  eighty-nine  years.  His  \vife, 
Maria  Catharina,  (youngest  daughter  of  Governor  Shirley) 
with  whom  he  lived  quite  sixty  years,  died  a  few  months  be 
fore  him.  His  son,  Dr.  Shirley  Erving,  died  at  Boston  in 
1813,  aged  fifty-five. 

ERVING,  GEORGE.  A  merchant,  of  Boston.  He  was  one 
of  the  fifty-eight  memorialists  who  were  the  first  men  in 
America  to  array  themselves  against  the  officers  of  the  Crown. 

J  <75 

He  was  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774  ;  was  proscribed 
under  the  Act  of  1778  ;  and  his  estate  was  confiscated  under 
the  Conspiracy  Act  of  1779.  He  went  to  Halifax  at  the 
evacuation,  with  his  family  of  five  persons,  and  thence  to 
England.  He  died  in  London  in  1806,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 
His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Isaac  Royall,  of  Med- 
ford.  His  son,  George  W.  Ervine,  was  American  Consul  at 
London,  Special  Minister  to  Denmark,  and  Minister  Plenipo 
tentiary  to  Spain.  A  distinguished  gentleman  in  Boston 

»/  1  &  £? 

kindly  furnishes  me  with  the  following  passage  in  a  letter 
received  by  him  from  the  son  just  mentioned :  "  Many  a  time 
and  oft"  has  my  father  "expressed  to  me  his  heart-bitter  re 
grets,  and  that  his  only  consolation  was  that  his  errors  had 


EVANS.  —  EVERITT.  407 

not  deprived  me  of  my  rights  as  an  American.  I  have  com 
mitted  a  great  fault,  but  you  are  not  responsible.  I  brought 
you  away  a  child  (of  five  years),  but  remember  that  when 
you  are  twenty-one,  you  are  freed  from  my  authority  as 
father,  and  will  then  return  to  your  native  country  —  and  so 
he  sent  me,  and  there  commences  my  history He  re 
mained  to  the  day  of  his  death  an  empassioned  American." 

EVANS,  ABEL.  In  1778,  in  a  letter  to  Galloway,  he  said : 
"  The  number  of  horses,  employed  to  transport  flour  from 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  to  Boston,  were  immense.  These 
were  principally  taken  from  the  farmers  southward  of  New 
York,  as  those  in  the  Continental  Army  were  mostly  rendered 
unfit  for  service  through  hard  usage  and  bad  feeding.  Carry 
ing  so  much  provision  so  far,  and  over  very  bad  roads,  has 
destroyed  many  more  of  the  horses  belonging  to  the  farmers. 
From  these  circumstances  judge  how  badly  the  Continental 
Army  must  be  prepared  for  another  campaign."  Evans  was 
then  in  New  York  —  "  obliged  to  go  into  such  business  as  he 
could  get  to  do." 

EVERSFIELD,  REV.  JOHN.  Of  Maryland.  Episcopal  min 
ister.  He  was  born  in  England,  and  belonged  to  a  noble 
family.  He  came  to  America  in  1727,  and  the  following 
year  was  placed  over  the  parish  of  St.  Paul's,  Prince  George's 
County.  He  possessed  a  good  library,  and  was  a  man  of  great 
learning.  In  1776  he  was  arrested,  and  his  case  examined  by 
the  Maryland  Convention  ;  with  the  result  that,  in  consider 
ation  of  his  age  and  infirmities,  and  his  want  of  ability  to 
exert  any  dangerous  influence,  he  be  discharged,  on  payment 
of  the  expenses  of  his  confinement.  He  died  in  1780,  aged 
about  eighty.  His  wife  was  Eleanor  Claggett, — an  aunt  of 
the  bishop  of  that  surname,  —  by  whom  he  received  a  large 
landed  estate.  Several  children  survived  him  ;  one  of  whom, 
John,  was  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  and  settled  in  England. 

EVERITT,  GEORGE.  Was  a  quartermaster  in  the  King's 
service.  Went  to  New  Brunswick  in  1783,  and  died  at 
Fredericton  in  1829,  aged  seventy. 

EVERITT,  BENJAMIN,  DANIEL,  JAMES,  and  NICHOLAS.    Of 


408  FAGAN.  —  FAIRFAX. 

Queen's  County,  New  York.  Acknowledged  allegiance,  Oc 
tober,  1776.  James  signed  a  Declaration  of  loyalty  pre 
viously  ;  settled  in  Nova  Scotia  subsequently,  and  died  in 
Dig-by  in  1799. 

FAGAN,  JAKE.  Of  Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey.  One 
of  the  "  Pine  Robbers."  These  miscreants  plundered  when 
ever  they  could,  and  changed  sides  as  often  as  interest  dictated. 
Jake,  after  a  career  of  crime,  was  shot  in  1778,  by  a  party  of 
Whigs  who  lay  in  ambush.  After  his  body  was  buried,  it 
was  disinterred,  enveloped  in  a  tarred  cloth,  and  suspended 
in  chains  with  iron  bands  around  it,  until  the  birds  of  prey 
picked  the  flesh  from  its  bones,  and  the  skeleton  fell  to  the 
ground  in  pieces.  There  is  a  tradition,  also,  that  his  skull 
was  afterwards  placed  against  the  tree  on  which  his  body  was 
hung,  with  a  pipe  in  its  mouth. 

FAIRCHILD,  JAMES  M.  He  went  to  New  Brunswick  in 
1783,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1807. 

FAIRFAX,  LORD  THOMAS.  He  was  the  son  of  Thomas, 
the  fifth  Lord  Fairfax,  and  of  Catharine,  daughter  of  Lord 
Culpepper,  and  was  born  in  England  in  1691.  He  was  edu 
cated  at  Oxford,  and  was  a  good  scholar.  Succeeding  to  the 
title  and  to  the  family  estate  in  Virginia,  he  came  over  to  that 
Colony  about  the  year  1739.  After  residing  there  a  year, 
he  returned  to  England ;  but  desirous  of  improving  and  induc 
ing  rapid  settlements  on  his  land,  and  pleased  with  America, 
he  determined  to  make  Virginia  the  place  of  his  permanent 
abode.  Another  account  is  that  he  sought  seclusion  in  con 
sequence  of  disappointment  in  love.  Whatever  the  cause, 
he  closed  his  affairs  in  England,  and  came  a  second  time  to 
his  estate  in  1745.  He  lived  several  years  with  William 
Fairfax,  at  Belvoir,  but  at  length  fixed  his  residence  a  few 
miles  from  Winchester,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Blue  Ridge, 
where  he  laid  out  a  farm,  and  put  it  under  high  cultivation. 
His  mansion  house  was  called  Green  way  Court,  and  he  lived 
in  a  style  of  liberal  hospitality.  He  was  fond  of  hunting  and 
indulged  in  the  diversion  nearly  to  excess.  I  find  it  said  that 
Christ  Church,  Alexandria,  and  the  Church  at  Falls  Church 


FAIRFAX.  409 

Corners,  and  the  Hotel  in  Alexandria,  which  was  the  head 
quarters  of  General  Washington,  were  built  of  bricks  brought 
from  England  by  Lord  Fairfax.  He  was  kind  to  the  poor, 
and  allowed  them  a  large  part  of  the  surplus  produce  of  the 
land  under  his  immediate  management,  and  afforded  them 
the  use  of  other  parts  of  his  estate  on  terms  almost  nominal. 
Indulgent  to  all  who  held  lands  under  him  and  to  all  around 
him,  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  private  duties  and  in  the 
performance  of  several  honorable  public  trusts,  he  lived  re 
spected  and  beloved  by  men  of  all  parties.  Though  a  frank 
and  open  Loyalist,  he  was  never  insulted  or  molested  by  the 
Whigs.  When  he  heard  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  it 
is  related  that  he  said  to  the  servant,  "  Come,  Joe,  carry  me 
to  bed,  for  it  is  high  time  for  me  to  die"  Nor  did  he  long 
survive  this  event.  He  died  at  Green  way  Court  in  1782,  in 
the  ninety-second  year  of  his  age,  much  lamented.  His  liter 
ary  attainments  were  highly  respectable,  and  it  is  said  that 
in  his  youth  he  was  a  contributor  to  the  "  Spectator."  His 
remains  were  deposited  under  the  communion-table  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  at  Winchester,  but  were  removed  in  1833, 
to  provide  a  place  for  the  erection  of  a  pile  of  buildings  on 
the  site  of  the  church.  He  was  a  dark,  swarthy  man,  more 
than  six  feet  in  height,  of  a  large  frame,  and  of  extraordinary 
strength. 

Lord  Fairfax  was  the  friend  and  patron  of  Washington's 
early  life,  and  though  he  died  before  the  mother  country  ac 
knowledged  the  independence  of  the  thirteen  Colonies,  he 
saw,  in  the  most  intense  anguish,  that  the  widow's  son,  who 
surveyed  his  lands,  was  destined  under  Providence  to  be  the 
great  instrument  to  dismember  the  British  empire. 

His  barony  and  his  immense  domain  in  Virginia,  between 
the  rivers  Potomac  and  Rappahannock,  consisting,  as  appears 
by  parliamentary  papers,  of  five  million  two  hundred  and 
eighty-two  thousand  acres,  descended  to  Ins  only  surviving 
brother,  Robert  Fairfax,  who  was  the  seventh  Lord  Fairfax, 
and  who  died  at  Leeds  Castle,  England,  in  1791.  But  as  this 
domain  was  in  possession  of  Lord  Thomas  during  the  Revolu- 

VOL.  i.  35 


410  FAIRFAX. 

tionary  controversy,  it  was  confiscated.  Lord  Robert,  how 
ever,  (claiming  in  behalf  of  himself;  of  Frances  Martin,  his 
widowed  sister ;  of  Denny  Fairfax,  a  clergyman  ;  of  Philip 
and  Thomas  Martin,  his  nephews ;  and  three  Misses  Martin, 
his  nieces),  applied  to  tlie  British  Government  for  compen 
sation,  under  the  provision  made  to  Loyalist  sufferers,  and 
stated  the  value  of  the  estate  at  <£9S,000.  The  commissioners 
made  a  special  report  upon  this  claim,  but  do  not  appear 
to  have  come  to  a  final  decision  with  regard  to  it ;  and  after 
their  labors  were  closed,  it  was  among  the  few  cases  which 
were  referred  to  Parliament  for  settlement.  It  was  consid 
ered  by  a  committee  of  that  body,  who,  as  the  commissioners 
had  done,  reduced  it  to  <£60,000.  Lord  Robert's  life  interest 
therein,  they  find,  by  the  established  rules  of  computation,  at 
<£13,758.  The  value  of  the  life  interest  Mr.  Pitt  recom 
mended  to  be  paid,  but  at  this  time  (1792)  advised  no  com 
pensation  to  those  who  possessed  the  reversionary  interest.  But 
it  is  believed  that,  at  a  subsequent  period,  an  allowance  was 
made  to  nearly  or  quite  the  sum  originally  claimed. 

His  estate  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  valuable  in 
America  at  the  Revolution.  It  was  granted  May  8,  1681,  by 
Charles  the  Second  to  Thomas  Lord  Culpepper,  the  grand 
father  of  Lord  Thomas  and  Lord  Robert  Fairfax,  on  a  "rent 
of  X6  IBs.  4tZ.,  payable  as  therein  mentioned."  At  Lord  Cul- 
pepper's  death  it  became  the  property  of  his  daughter,  the 
Right  Honorable  Catharine,  Lady  Fairfax,  who,  by  her  will 
of  April  21,  1719,  devised  the  whole  in  trust  thus  :  "  Upon 
trust  in  the  first  place  by  mortgage,  a  sale  of  sufficient  part 
of  the  estates  thereby  devised,  to  raise  a  sufficient  sum  for 
discharging  all  her  debts,  legacies,  and  funeral  expenses  ; 
and  after  such  mortgage  sale  and  disposition,"  as  follows, 
namely  :  — 

"  To  the  use  of  her  eldest  son,  Thomas  Lord  Fairfax,  and 
his  assigns  for  life.  Remainder  to  the  first  and  other  sons  of 
said  Thomas  Fairfax,  in  tail  male.  Remainder  to  her  second 
son,  Henry  Culpepper  Fairfax,  and  his  assigns,  for  life.  Re 
mainder  to  the  first  and  other  sons  of  said  Henry  Culpepper 


FAIRFAX.  411 

Fairfax,  in  tail  male.  Remainder  to  her  third  son,  Robert 
Fairfax,  and  his  assigns,  for  life.  Remainder  to  trustees  to 
preserve  contingent  remainders.  Remainder  to  the  first  and 
other  sons  of  said  Robert  Fairfax,  in  tail  male.  Remainder 
to  the  daughters  of  the  said  testatrix,  as  tenants  in  common, 
in  tail.  Remainder  to  the  right  heirs  of  the  said  testatrix,  in 
fee." 

Such  was  the  tenure  of  the  Fairfax  estate  in  Virginia.  The 
magnitude  of  the  property,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
caused  an  unusual  degree  of  investigation  in  Parliament,  and 
Lord  Robert's  memorial  for  relief  was  the  subject  of  a  separate 
and  elaborate  report.  His  individual  loss,  if  computed  at  the 
value  of  his  life  interest,  wras  less  than  that  of  several  of  the 
Loyalists  whose  property  was  confiscated  ;  though  we  have 
seen  that  the  Government  gave  him,  without  hesitation,  nearly 
seventy  thousand  dollars,  after  reducing  his  valuation  more 
than  a  quarter  part.  A  considerable  portion  of  this  estate  had 
been  granted  prior  to  the  Revolution,  upon  the  quit-rent 
system,  and  thus  a  part  of  its  value  had  been  transferred  to 
others.  Still  the  reversionary  interest  on  the  decease  of  Lord 
Robert,  which  the  committee  of  Parliament  fixed  at  a  sum 
equal  to  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars,  was  by  no  means 
extravagant,  even  if  the  worth  of  lands  at  that  period  be  alone 
considered. 

Perhaps  the  reader  has  journeyed  through  the  present 
counties  of  Lancaster,  Northumberland,  Richmond,  West 
moreland,  Stafford,  King  George,  Prince  William,  Fairfax, 
Loudoun,  Fauquier,  Culpepper,  Clarke,  Madison,  Page, 
Shenandoah,  Hardy,  Hampshire,  Morgan,  Berkely,  Jefferson 
and  Frederick — twenty-one  in  all  —  and  embracing  nearly 
one  quarter  of  Virginia  ; — perhaps  the  eye  that  glances  at 
this  page  has  surveyed  everything  between  the  Potomac  and 
the  Rappahannock  ;  —  did  the  thought  occur  that  this  whole 
territory  once  belonged  to  a  single  family  ;  that  though  the 
Fairfax  of  the  Revolutionary  era  was  the  friend  of  Washing 
ton,  every  acre  was  confiscated  simply  because  of  loyalty  to 
the  British  Crown?  Such  a  grant,  after  the  lapse  of  genera- 


412  FAIRFAX. 

tions,  and  in  the  progress  of  civilization,  we  deem  entirely 
wrong  ;  but,  made  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  it 
was  valid.  The  many  battles  on  the  Fairfax  domain,  in  the 
present  unhallowed  Rebellion,  will  render  the  country  between 
the  Potomac  and  the  Rappahannock  memorable  in  all  coming 
time. 

FAIRFAX,  GEORGE  WILLIAM.  Of  Virginia.  He  was  the 
great-grandson  of  Thomas,  the  fourth  Lord  Fairfax.  His 
father  was  the  Hon.  Colonel  William  Fairfax,  who  was  Lieu 
tenant  of  the  county  of  Fairfax,  Collector  of  the  Customs  of 
South  Potomac,  member  and  President  of  the  Council  in 
Virginia.  -  He  was  educated  in  England,  but  was  the  early 
companion  of  Washington,  and  his  associate  as  surveyor  of 
lands.  On  the  death  of  his  father  in  1757,  he  succeeded  to 
his  estate.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Carey,  of 
Hampton,  became  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  lived  at 
Belvoir.  Some  property  in  Yorkshire  descended  to  him  in 
1773,  and  he  went  to  England  ;  and  in  consequence  of  the 
political  difficulties  which  followed,  did  not  return  to  America. 
He  fixed  his  residence  at  Bath,  where  he  died  in  1787,  aged 
sixty-three.  Daring  the  war  he  evinced  much  kindness  to 
American  prisoners  who  were  carried  to  England.  A  part 
of  his  Virginia  estate  was  confiscated,  by  which  his  income 
was  much  reduced.  Washington  esteemed  him  highly,  and 
they  were  ever  friends.  The  illustrious  Commander-in-Chief 
was  named  an  executor  of  his  will,  but  declined  fulfilling  the 
trust  in  consequence  of  his  public  engagements.  Mr.  Fairfax 
left  no  children.  He  bequeathed  his  American  property  to 
Ferdinando,  the  second  son  of  his  only  surviving  brother. 

FAIRFAX,  LORD  BRYAX.     Of  Virginia.     He  was  the  third 

<T> 

son  of  the  Hon.  Colonel  William  Fairfax.  His  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  Wilson  Carey,  of  Virginia,  and  his  residence  was 
at  Towlston  Hall  in  Fairfax  County,  though  for  some  years, 
during  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  was  an  Episcopal  clergy 
man  at  Alexandria.  An  affectionate  intercourse  existed  be 
tween  him  and  Washington  throughout  life ;  both  were  of  too 
elevated  a  cast  to  allow  political  differences  of  opinion  to  alien- 


FAIRFAX.  418 

ate  and  separate  them.  In  1774  Washington  expressed  an 
earnest  wish  that  he  should  stand  as  a  candidate  for  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  but  lie  declined.  He  was  opposed  to  strong 
measures,  and  in  favor  of  redress  by  remonstrances  and  peti 
tions.  "  There  are  scarce  any  at  Alexandria,"  he  wrote,  "  of 
my  opinion  ;  and  though  the  few  I  have  elsewhere  conversed 
with  on  the  subject  are  so,  yet  from  them  I  could  learn  that 
many  thought  otherwise ;  so  that  1  believe  I  should  at  this 
time  give  general  dissatisfaction,  and  therefore  it  would  be 
more  proper  to  decline,  even  upon  this  account,  as  well  as 
because  it  would  necessarily  lead  me  into  great  expenses, 
which  my  circumstances  will  not  allow."  Washington,  in 
reply,  remarked  that  he  would  heartily  join  in  his  political 
sentiments  "  so  far  as  relates  to  a  humble  and  dutiful  petition 
to  the  throne,  provided  there  was  the  most  distant  hope  of 
success.  But,"  said  he,  "  have  we  not  tried  this  already? 
Have  we  not  addressed  the  Lords,  and  remonstrated  to  the 
Commons  ?  And  to  what  end  ?  Did  they  deign  to  look  at 
our  petitions  ?  "  &c. 

Prior  to  July  18,  1774,  Mr.  Fairfax  attended  several  meet 
ings  of  the  Whigs  of  Fairfax  County,  but  at  that  time  with 
drew  from  them.  The  immediate  cause  of  withdrawal  seems 
to  have  been  his  disapprobation  of  some  of  the  resolutions  pre 
pared  by  a  committee,  and  submitted  to  a  general  meeting  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  county.  Washington  was  chairman  of 
both  the  committee  and  the  meeting,  and  Fairfax  addressed 
to  him  a  communication,  expressing  his  views  and  objections, 
which  he  desired  might  be  publicly  read.  Yet  the  two  friends 
did  not  relinquish  their  correspondence  upon  the  great  ques 
tions  which  agitated  the  country;  and  the  letters  of  Washing 
ton  to  this  gentleman  contain  the  fullest  and  most  satisfactory 
exposition  of  his  sentiments  that  Mr.  Sparks  has  preserved. 
On  the  death  of  Robert  Fairfax  (in  1701),  who  was  the  sev 
enth  Lord  Fairfax,  Bryan  Fairfax  succeeded  to  the  title,  and 
was  the  eighth  Baron  of  the  name.  Benevolence  and  kind 
ness  were  marked  traits  in  his  character,  and  he  was  univer 
sally  respected  and  beloved.  Washington  bequeathed  to  him 
35* 


414  FAIRFAX.  -  FALES. 

an  elegant  Bible  in  three  volumes  folio.  Lord  Bryan  died- at 
Mount  Eagle,  near  Cameron,  in  1802,  aged  seventy-five,  after 
a  lon<r  illness,  which  he  bore  with  resignation. 

Two  of  his  sons  were  Ferdinando  and  Thomas.  The  lat 
ter,  as  we  shall  see,  inherited  the  empty  title  of  Lord  Fairfax. 
His  grandson  Henry,  a  graduate  at  West  Point,  raised  a  com 
pany  in  the  late  war  with  Mexico,  much  against  the  wishes 
of  his  relatives  and  friends,  and  died  a  victim  to  the  climate, 
soon  after  arriving  at  the  scene  of  strife.  Lord  Thomas  Fair 
fax,  after  his  succession  to  the  barony,  chose  to  live  much  in 
retirement,  to  superintend  "  his  paternal  estates  on  the  Poto 
mac,  and  to  exercise  a  genuine  old  English  hospitality,  com 
bined  with  the  simplicity  of  the  land  in  which  he  dwelt." 
"  He  uniformly  declined,  from  Americans,  any  deference  to 
his  rank,  preferring  to  be  regarded  as  simply  a  gentleman  of 
the  county  which  bears  his  family  name."'  He  died  at  his 
seat  in  Virginia,  in  1846,  in  his  eighty-fourth  year.  Marga 
ret,  his  widow,  died  in  1858,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five.  The 
present  Baron  is  Lord  Charles  Snowden  Fairfax,  grandson 
of  Lord  Thomas. 

FAIRWEATHER,  BENJAMIN,  JEDEDIAH,  and  THOMAS.  Set 
tled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1788,  and  received  grants  of  lands. 
Thomas  died  at  Norton  in  that  Colony  in  18*25,  at  the  ao-e  of 
seventy-seven,  and  Elizabeth,  his  widow,  at  the  same  place, 
in  1846,  aged  seventy -nine.  Jedediah  died  at  Norton  in 
1831,  at  the  age  of  ninety-six. 

FALES,  DAVID.  Of  Dedham,  Massachusetts.  In  1763  he 
removed  to  Maine,  upon  the  Waldo  Patent,  and  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  town  of  Thomaston  ;  where  he  practised 
as  a  physician,  taught  school,  and  surveyed  lands.  He  was 
also  employed  by  Mr.  Flucker,  the  Secretary  of  Massachusetts, 
and  son-in-law  of  General  Waldo,  as  agent  of  lands  embraced 
in  the  Patent.  He  wrote  a  remarkable  fair  hand,  was  me 
thodical  in  business,  but  slow,  and  very  tardy  in  coming  to  the 
relief  of  a  patient.  In  1775  the  Whigs,  in  the  vicinity  of  his 
home,  offered  him  the  alternative  of  signing  a  Test  of  fidelity 
to  the  popular  cause,  or  of  riding  on  the  "  wooden  horse." 


FANNING.  415 

He  refused  to  side  with  the  "  Rebels,"  and  escaped  the  rail  : 
for  his  wife  prepared  a  pailful  of  flip,  and  his  sons  became  sure 
ties  for  his  ii'ood  conduct.  I  find  him  in  Maine  in  1700,  when, 
at  Thornaston,  his  name  appears  as  one  of  a  committee  to  se 
lect  the  site  for  a  meeting-house  in  Warren. 

FANNING,  EDMUND.  Of  North  Carolina.  General  in  the 
British  Army.  Son  of  Colonel  Phineas  Fanning.  Born  on 
Long  Island,  New  York.  Graduated  at  Yale  College  ;  stud 
ied  law  ;  removed  to  North  Carolina,  and  commenced  practice. 
Appointed  colonel  in  the  militia  in  1703,  and  two  years  later, 
clerk  of  the  Superior  Court.  Subsequently,  he  was  a  man  of 
considerable  note  in  the  Colony,  and  respectable  men  aver 
that  he  was  remarkable  "  for  all  the  vices  that  degrade  the 
most  abandoned  and  profligate  minion."  Among  the  public 
offices  which  he  held,  was  that  of  Recorder  of  Deeds  for  the 
county  of  Orange ;  and  it  is  alleged,  that  to  his  abuses  in  this 
capacity,  the  war  or  rebellion  of  the  Regulators  in  Governor 
Tryon's  administration,  is,  in  a  good  measure,  to  be  attributed. 
The  averment  is,  that,  by  his  vicious  character,  "  nearly  all 
the  estates  in  Orange  were  loaded  with  doubts  as  to  their 
titles,  with  exorbitant  fees  for  recording  new  and  unnecessary 
deeds,  and  high  taxes  to  support  a  government  which  supported 
his  wickedness."  This  charge  rests  on  very  high  authority  ; 
and  during  the  war  of  the  Regulators  against  the  Royal  Gov 
ernment,  neither  the  person  nor  property  of  Fanning  were  re 
spected.  His  losses  were  presented  to  the  Assembly  by  Gov 
ernor  Martin,  the  successor  of  Tryon,  but  that  body  not  only 
peremptorily  refused  to  consider  the  subject,  but  administered 
a  rebuke  to  the  Governor,  for  thus  trifling  "  with  the  dignity 
of  the  House."  It  is  not  impossible  that  his  unpopularity  was 
greater  than  his  offences  deserved ;  since  neither  the  members 
of  the  Assembly,  nor  the  people  at  large,  were,  at  this  junc 
ture,  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  do  exact  justice  to  opponents. 
Fanning  followed  Governor  Tryon  to  New  York,  and  became 
liis  secretary.  In  1777  he  raised  a  corps  of  four  hundred  and 
sixty  Loyalists,  which  bore  the  name  of  the  Associated  Refu 
gees,  or  King's  American  Regiment,  and  of  which  he  had  com- 


416  FANNING. 

mand.  To  aid  in  the  organization  of  this  body,  .£500  were  sub 
scribed  at  Staten  Island,  £310  in  King's  County,  £219  in 
the  town  of  Jamaica,  and  £2000  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
"While  stationed  in  Rhode  Island,  August,  1778,  he  had  "  a 
smart  en^ao-ement  with  the  enemy,"  said  General  Pigot,  u  and 

?T5     &  J    '  c5 

obliged  them  to  retreat  to  their  main  body."  In  March  of 
the  following  year,  a  part  of  his  regiment,  and  other  Loyalists, 
embarked  in  seven  vessels,  protected  by  three  privateers,  on  an 
expedition,  "  to  get  stock,"  or  cattle,  at  the  eastward.  The 
chronicle  has  it  that  they  landed  on  Nantucket  and  brought 
off  a  number  of  hogs,  a  quantity  of  oil,  and  three  vessels. 
On  the  16th  of  June,  the  whole  corps  sailed  for  New  York. 
While  his  regiment  was  on  Long  Island,  some  of  his  men 
entered  a  house,  tied  the  owner  of  it  to  a  bedpost,  and  then 
held  a  candle  under  the  ends  of  his  fingers,  to  torture  him  to 
disclose  the  hiding-place  of  his  money.  The  general  charge 

i/O  O 

that  "  Farming's  corps  were  rude  and  ill  behaved,"  is  sup 
ported  by  evidence.  In  1779  the  property  of  Colonel  Fan 
ning  in  North  Carolina  was  confiscated.  In  1782  he  was  in 
office  as  Surveyor-General  of  New  York.  He  went  to  Nova 
Scotia  near  the  close  of  the  war,  and  September  23d,  1783, 
was  sworn  in  as  Councillor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  that 
Colony.  About  the  year  1786  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Prince  Edward  Island  ;  and  having  served  nearly 
nineteen  years,  was  succeeded  in  1805  by  Des  Barres,  who  is 
celebrated  for  his  charts  of  parts  of  the  American  coast. 

Fanning  was  appointed  Major-General  in  1793,  Lieutenant- 
General  in  1799,  and  General  in  1808.  He  died  in  Upper 
Seymour  Street,  London,  in  1818.  Whigs,  as  \VQ  have  seen, 
said  that  his  character  was  bad.  At  the  time  of  his  decease, 
a  friendly  pen  wrote :  "  The  world  did  not  contain  a  better 
man  in  all  the  various  relations  of  life  :  as  a  husband,  a  parent, 
and  a  friend  —  as  a  landlord  and  master,  he  was  kind  and  in 
dulgent.  He  was  much  distinguished  in  the  American  war, 
and  raised  a  regiment  there,  by  which  he  lost  a  very  large 
property."  His  only  son,  A.  F.  Fanning,  a  captain  in  the 
22d  Foot,  died  in  1812.  "  Neither  the  General  nor  anv  of 


FANNING.  417 

liis  family  ever  recovered  from  that  blow."     Mrs.  Fanning 
and  three  daughters  survived. 

O 

FANNING,  DAVID.  Of  North  Carolina.  He  was  horn  in 
Virginia  in  1755,  and  was  bred  to  a  trade.  In  1775,  to  use 
his  own  words,  lie  was  a  planter  "  in  the  back  part  of  the 
Southern  Provinces."  His  first  military  service  was  per 
formed  under  Colonel  Thomas  Fletchell,  in  the  affair  with 
Major  Andrew  Williamson.  In  a  memorial  to  the  Commis 
sioners  on  Loyalists'  Claims,  he  states,  that  during  the  Revolu 
tion  he  had  command  of  bodies  of  men  from  one  hundred  to 
nine  hundred  and  fifty  in  number ;  that  he  was  engaged 
against  "  the  Rebels "  thirty-six  times  in  North  Carolina, 
and  four  times  in  South  Carolina,  —  all  of  which  skirmishes 
and  battles  he  planned  ;  that  he  was  wounded  twice,  and 
made  prisoner  no  less  than  on  fourteen  occasions  ;  that,  at 
the  peace,  he  went  to  Florida,  where  he  settled  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  souls;  that  his  property  in  North  Carolina 
had  been  confiscated  ;  and  that  he  and  his  family  were  in 
great  distress.  This  paper  is  dated  at  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  March,  1780.  Of  his  course  in  the  Revolution, 
another  remarks :  u  Always  well  mounted  and  accompanied 
by  a  band  of  kindred  spirits,  he  swept  over  the  country  like 
a  Camanche  chief,  surprising  parties  of  Whifijs  when  off' 
their  guard  ;  he  often  gave  no  quarter.  In  lying  in  ambush 
or  pouncing  upon  them  at  their  homes,  he  seized  and  murdered 
or  tortured  the  obnoxious  patriots,  and  then  plundered  and 
burnt  their  dwellings.  By  a  series  of  bold  adventures  he  took 
the  town  of  Cross  Creek,  now  Fayetteville,  captured  the  Whig 
militia  officers  of  the  county  of  Chatham,  when  sitting  in  court- 
martial  at  Hillsborough,  and  by  a  sudden  descent  on  Hills- 
borough,  at  dawn  of  day,  about  the  middle  of  September, 
seized  and  carried  off  the  Governor  of  the  State." 

In  1799  Fanning  removed  from  New  Brunswick  to  Nova 
Scotia.  In  February,  1801,  as  appears  by  papers  in  his  own 
handwriting,  which  are  in  my  possession,  he  was  under  sen 
tence  of  death.  He  was  a  Freemason,  and  Oliver  Arnold, 
Master  of  Lodge  No.  21,  King's  County,  petitioned  Governor 


418  FANNING.  —  F  ANUEIL. 

Carleton  to  pardon  him.  By  this  document  it  seems  that  Fan 
ning  was  convicted  on  the  testimony  of  a  single  witness ;  and 
this  fact  is  stated  as  a  reason  why  mercy  should  be  extended 
to  him.  The  crime  is  not  mentioned  by  Arnold,  or  in  any  of 
the  other  papers  which  I  have  examined  ;  but,  from  several 
expressions  which  occur,  and  from  the  manner  of  Farming's 
reference  to  Sarah  London,  or,  as  he  calls  her,  "  Sail  Lon 
don,"  she  must  have  accused  him  of  violating  her  person,  and 
have  procured  his  conviction.  He  was  pardoned.  In  1804, 
his  correspondence  shows  that  he  abused — much  abused  —  a 
gentleman  of  St.  John,  who  "  contributed  greatly  in  saving 
his  life  ;  "  while,  subsequently,  it  affords  ample  evidence  that 
he  was  often  involved  in  quarrels  with  his  neighbors,  and  in 
lawsuits  with  others.  In  truth,  he  was  in  trouble  every 
where.  In  North  Carolina  he  was  declared  an  outlaw,  and 
was  one  of  the  three  who  are  excepted  by  name  in  the  Act  of 
General  Pardon  and  Oblivion  ;  and  not  a  Whig  there  or  else 
where,  as  far  as  I  know,  ever  spoke  or  wrote  of  him  in  kind 
ness  ;  while  his  fellow-Loyalists  in  New  Brunswick  and  Nova 
Scotia  often  expressed  their  indignation  at  his  words  and 
deeds.  In  1812,  Fanning  solicited  military  employment  in 
the  war  with  the  United  States,  without  success.  Officers, 
however,  who  served  with  him  in  the  Revolution,  be  it  said 
in  justice,  testified  to  "  his  services  and  character  as  a  brave 
soldier."  He  died  at  Digby,  in  1825,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 

FANNING,  THOMAS.  Of  Suffolk  County,  New  York.  Ad 
dresser  of  Governor  Try  on,  November,  1776  ;  and  deputed  to 
present  the  submission  of  the  committees  of  that  county  the 
month  previous.  In  June,  1778,  a  party  of  Whigs  from  Con 
necticut  seized  him  and  carried  him  off.  He  was  a  kinsman, 
perhaps  a  brother,  of  Edmund. 

F  ANUEIL,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Boston.  An  eminent  merchant. 
He  was  one  of  the  consignees  of  the  tea  which  was  destroyed 
in  that  town  in  December,  1773.  He  died  at  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  in  1785,  aged  eighty-four. 

FANUEIL,  BENJAMIN,  JR.  Of  Boston.  He  went  to  Eng 
land,  and  was  in  London,  March,  1777. 


FARLEY.  —  FAYERWEATHER.  419 

FARLKY,  JOSEPH.  Of  Georgia.  In  the  effort  to  reestab 
lish  the  Royal  Government  in  1779,  he  was  appointed  provost 
marshal. 

FARKINGTON,  THOMAS.  Of  Groton,  Massachusetts.  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  in  the  Continental  Army.  In  May,  1777,  by 
order  of  General  Heath,  he  was  tried  by  a  court-martial  for 
"  passing  counterfeit  money,  knowing  it  to  be  such,"  found 
guilty,  unanimously  sentenced  to  be  dismissed  from  the  army, 
and  rendered  incapable  of  holding  any  military  office  under 
Congress.  This  done,  he  was  committed  to  jail,  to  be  dealt 
with  by  the  civil  authorities. 

FARNHAM,  JOHN.  Of  Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey. 
A  Tory  marauder.  In  an  affray  in  New  Jersey,  he  attempted 
to  shoot  a  young  Whig  into  whose  father's  house  he  and  a 
band  of  Tories  and  negroes  had  broken  ;  but  was  prevented 
by  Lippincott,  the  murderer  of  Huddy. 

FARNSWORTH,  DAVID.  In  1778  he  was  tried  as  a  spy,  con 
victed  of  the  offence,  and  executed  at  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
on  the  10th  of  November.  A  large  amount  of  counterfeit 
Continental  money  was  found  in  his  possession. 

FAULKNER,  THOMAS.  Of  North  Carolina.  Secretary  of 
the  Colony.  Went  to  England,  and  died  there  in  1782. 

FAYERWEATHER,  REV.  SAMUEL.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Epis 
copal  minister.  He  was  son  of  Thomas  Fayerweather  of 
Boston,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1743.  Or 
dained  a  Congregationalist,  he  was  settled  at  Newport,  Rhode 
Island.  His  first  service  as  an  Episcopalian,  after  his  return 
from  England,  was  in  South  Carolina ;  but  the  climate  injured 
his  health,  and  he  applied  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  for  a  mission  at  the  North.  He  was  accordingly 
transferred  to  the  parish  of  St.  Paul's,  Rhode  Island,  in  17(30. 
In  1774  the  Whigs  of  his  flock  objected  to  the  reading  of 
prayers  for  the  King  and  Royal  family ;  and,  as  he  could  not 
dispense  with  them,  as  he  thought,  without  the  violation  of 
his  ordination  vows,  his  church  was  closed.  He  preached 
occasionally,  however,  in  private  houses,  without  molestation. 
It  is  said,  indeed,  that  personally  he  favored  the  popular  cause. 


420  FEMALES.  —  FENWICKE. 

He  died  in  1781,  and  was  buried  under  the  communion-table 
of  his  church.  The  University  of  Oxford  conferred  the  de 
gree  of  A.  M.  in  1756. 

FEMALES.     [See  Women.~\ 

FENTOX,  JOHN.  Of  New  Hampshire.  He  was  a  captain 
in  the  British  Army,  but  disposing  of  his  commission,  settled 
in  New  Hampshire,  where  he  became  a  colonel  in  the  militia, 
clerk  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  Judge  of  Probate 
for  the  county  of  Graft  on.  In  1775  he  was  also  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Assembly  for  the  town  of  Plymouth,  and 
was  expelled.  Enraged  at  the  indignity,  and  at  the  measures 
of  the  Whigs  generally,  he  gave  vent  to  his  passions,  and  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  people,  who  pursued  him  to  the  residence 
of  Governor  Wentworth  with  a  field-piece,  which  they  threat 
ened  to  discharge  unless  he  was  delivered  up.  Fenton  surren 
dered,  and  was  sent  to  the  Committee  of  Safety  at  Exeter  for 
trial.  "Upon  a  full  hearing  of  sundry  complaints  against" 
him  in  Provincial  Congress,  it  was  voted,  that  he  was  "  an 
enemy  to  the  liberties  of  America,"  and  that  he  should  "  be 
confined  in  the  jail  at  Exeter,"  and  "  be  supported  like  a  gen 
tleman,  at  the  expense  of  the  Colony,  until  further  orders." 
By  a  subsequent  vote  it  was  ordered,  that  his  place  of  con 
finement  should  be  at  the  Whig  camp.  September  19,  1775, 
the  Continental  Congress  instructed  Washington  to  discharge 
him  on  his  parole  of  honor,  to  proceed  to  New  York  and 
thence  to  Great  Britain,  and  not  to  bear  arms  against  the 
American  people.  Property  confiscated,  and  banished,  1778. 

FENTON,  LEWIS.  A  Tory  robber  and  outlaw,  who  infested 
the  pine  barrens  of  New  Jersey.  He  was  originally  a  black 
smith,  and  learned  his  trade  at  Freehold,  New  Jersey.  His 
first  crime  appears  to  have  been  the  robbing  of  a  tailor's  shop  ; 
when  word  was  sent  to  him  that,  unless  he  returned  his  plun 
der,  he  should  be  hunted  down  and  shot.  He  was  killed  in 
Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey,  in  1779,  by  a  party  who 
went  in  pursuit  of  him. 

FENWICKE,  EDWARD.  Of  South  Carolina.  He  was  op 
posed  to  the  measures  of  the  Ministry  in  1774,  since  he  was 


FERGUSON.  —  FERRIS.  421 

in  London  that  year,  and  joined  Franklin,  Lee,  and  other 
patriots  then  in  England,  in  a  remonstrance  against  the  pas 
sage  of  the  bill  for  the  Government  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 
He  married  a  daughter  of  John  Stuart,  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Affairs  ;  and,  in  1776,  petitioned  the  House  of  Assem 
bly  to  allow  him  to  hold  as  property  thirty  negroes  who,  as 
he  averred,  Stuart  designed  to  give  him  as  a  part  of  the  mar 
riage  portion  of  his  wife.  Stuart  had  then  fled,  and  his  effects 
had  been  seized.  Fenwicke  was  a  Congratulates  of  Corn- 
wallis  on  his  success  at  Camden  in  1780.  In  1782  his  estate 
was  confiscated,  and  he  was  banished.  In  1785,  by  Act  of 
the  General  Assembly,  his  property  was  restored,  and  he  was 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  State  one  year. 

FERGUSON,  HENRY  HUGH.  Of  Pennsylvania.  During 
the  war  he  was  made  a  commissary  of  prisoners.  His  wife 
was  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Doctor  Graeme,  the  Collector 
of  Philadelphia,  and  granddaughter  of  Sir  William  Keith, 
one  of  the  proprietary  Governors  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1778, 
soon  after  he  was  attainted  and  proscribed,  Mrs.  Ferguson 
made  a  long  statement  to  the  Council,  in  which  she  gave  a 
narrative  of  his  conduct  from  September,  1775,  (when,  as 
appears,  he  embarked  for  Bristol,  England,)  until  her  appeal 
in  his  behalf.  "  As  to  my  little  estate,"  she  remarked,  "  it  is 
patrimonial,  and  left  me  in  fee  simple  by  my  father."  In 
1779  she  appealed  to  the  Council  not  to  allow  the  sale  of  her 
property  "  in  consequence  of  her  husband's  right  by  mar 
riage,"  setting  forth,  as  she  thought,  "  good  and  cogent  rea 
sons  "  for  her  prayer.  The  estate  was,  however,  confiscated ; 
but  a  part  of  it  was  restored  to  her  by  the  Legislature  in  1781. 
She  separated  from  her  husband,  and  died  in  1801. 

FERRIS,  JOSEPH.  Of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  He  raised 
a  company,  joined  Colonel  Butler,  and  was  a  captain  in  the 
Rangers.  During  the  war  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  a  brother- 
in-law  who  was  a  Whig,  but  escaped  from  captivity.  After 
the  peace  he  went  to  Newfoundland,  but  removed  to  New 
Brunswick,  where  he  settled.  He  was  fond  of  visits  to  the 
States  and  to  the  scenes  of  his  youth  ;  and  sometimes  met 

VOL.  i.  36 


422  FERRIS.  -  FISHER. 

those  whom  he  had  opposed  in  skirmishes  and  battles.  He 
lived  in  Eastport,  Maine,  after  it  was  captured  by  the  British 
forces  in  the  war  of  1812,  but  returned  to  New  Brunswick 
on  its  being  surrendered  to  the  United  States.  He  died  at 
Indian  Island,  New  Brunswick,  in  1836,  aged  ninety-two. 
He  enjoyed  half-pay  from  the  close  of  the  Revolution  until 
his  decease,  a  period  of  fifty-three  years. 

FERRIS,  JOSHUA.  Of  New  York.  "  An  old  offender,"  said 
Colonel  Thomas,  to  the  New  York  Convention,  August,  1776, 
when  sending  him  to  that  body ;  "  and  has  been  sought  for 
long  since  by  the  Committee  of  this  county  to  answer  for  his 
repeated  offences,  particularly  for  being  in  arms  against  his 
country,"  &c. 

FEWTRELL,  JOHN.  Of  South  Carolina.  He  was  a  Judge 
of  the  Superior  Court ;  and  was  permitted  to  depart  from  the 
State. 

FINDLEY,  HUGH.  He  and  John  Foxcroft  were  the  two 
Postmasters-General  of  the  thirteen  Colonies,  and  were  con 
tinued  at  the  head  of  that  Department  until  1782,  certainly, 
and  probably  until  the  peace. 

FINLEY,  JAMES.  Sergeant  in  Price's  company  of  Riflemen. 
Tried  by  a  general  court-martial,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Sept. 
1775,  "  for  expressing  himself  disrespectfully  of  the  Conti 
nental  Association,  and  drinking  General  Gage's  health"; 
and  sentenced  to  be  deprived  of  his  arms  and  accoutrements, 
to  be  put  in  a  horse-cart  with  a  rope  around  his  neck,  to  be 
drummed  out  of  the  army,  and  rendered  forever  incapable  of 
military  service. 

FISHER,  REV.  NATHANIEL.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Epis 
copal  minister.  He  was  born  at  Dedham,  Massachusetts,  in 
1742,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1763.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  Revolution  he  was  imprisoned  for  his  loyalty. 
He  was  employed  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  as  a  schoolmaster  at  Granville, 
Nova  Scotia,  soon  after  his  release ;  and  in  1778,  —  having 
been  to  England  for  ordination,  —  he  was  stationed  at  Annap 
olis  in  that  Province,  as  Assistant  Rector.  He  returned  to  the 


FISHER.  423 

United  States  late  in  1781,  and  was  soon  after  admitted  to 
citizenship  in  Massachusetts,  on  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  that  Commonwealth.  In  February,  1782,  he  entered  upon 
his  duties  as  Rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Salem.  After  a 
ministry  of  more  than  thirty  years,  he  died  in  that  city  in 
December,  1812,  on  Sunday,  a  few  minutes  after  returning 
to  his  house  from  performing  divine  service,  at  the  age  of 
seventy.  His  wife  was  Silence  Baker,  of  Dedham,  by  whom 
he  was  the  father  of  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  "  Two  of  his 
children  were  cut  off  in  the  bloom  of  youth  and  beauty," 
towards  the  close  of  his  life,  and  "  for  a  moment  he  seemed 
desolate  and  dismayed."  It  is  written,  that,  "  as  a  father  and 
husband,  he  was  affectionate  and  kind  ;  as  a  friend,  faithful 
and  sincere  ;  .  .  .  and  as  a  Christian,  firm  in  his  belief,  and 
benevolent  in  his  life."  In  person,  he  was  strongly  built,  and 
of  a  laro;e  frame.  One  of  his  sisters  was  the  mother  of  the 

O 

statesman  and  orator,  Fisher  Ames. 

FISHER,  MIERS.  Of  Philadelphia.  Said  John  Adams,  in 
1774  :  "  Dined  with  Mr.  Miers  Fisher,  a  young  Quaker,  and 
a  lawyer.  We  saw  his  library,  which  is  clever.  But  this 
plain  Friend  and  his  plain  though  pretty  wife,  with  her  T/iees 
and  ThouS)  had  provided  us  the  most  costly  entertainment: 
ducks,  ham,  chickens,  pig,  tarts,  creams,  custards,  jellies,  fools, 
trifles,  floating  islands,  beer,  porter,  punch,  wine,  and  a  long 
&c.  We  had  a  large  collection  of  lawyers  at  table,"  &c.  In 
the  rapidity  of  events,  Mr.  Fisher  was  left  behind  ;  and  in 
1777  he  was  apprehended  and  confined  at  Philadelphia  ;  and 
finally  ordered,  with  other  Loyalists  of  that  city,  to  Virginia. 
He  was  distinguished  in  his  profession,  an  eloquent  advocate, 
and  a  lover  of  science.  He  died  at  Philadelphia  in  1819, 
aged  seventy-one. 

FISHER,  SAMUEL  R.  Of  Philadelphia.  Brother  of  Miers 
Fisher.  In  1779,  a  letter,  addressed  by  him  to  his  brother, 
Jabez  M.,  was  intercepted,  and  submitted  by  the  Council  to 
the  Chief  Justice,  with  the  remark  that  it  contained  infor 
mation  which  appeared  to  call  for  legal  reprehension  and  pun 
ishment.  He  was  accordingly  committed,  and  ordered  to 


424  FISHER. 

recognize  with  a  surety  in  .£500.  Hours  were  spent  by  the 
Chief  Justice  himself  in  the  endeavor  to  prevail  upon  him  to 
execute  the  required  bond,  but  he  absolutely  refused.  He 
was  not,  however,  deprived  of  his  liberty  by  the  sheriff,  until 
the  Council  issued  a  positive  order  to  that  officer  to  confine 
him. 

FISHER,  JABEZ  MAUD.  Of  Philadelphia.  Brother  of  Samuel 
R.  Fisher.  He  departed  the  State.  In  1779  he  was  a  mer 
chant  in  New  York  ;  went  to  England,  was  a  Loyal  Addresser 
of  the  King,  and  died  there  the  same  year.  In  1782,  Messrs. 
Joshua  Fisher  &  Sons,  of  Philadelphia,  petitioned  the  Coun 
cil  of  Pennsylvania  to  grant  Samuel  R.  Fisher,  of  that  house, 
leave  to  go  to  England  by  way  of  New  York,  to  assist  in  ad 
justing  his  concerns.  The  petition  was  rejected. 

FISHER,  TURNER.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  Wilfred  Fisher. 
He  accompanied  the  British  troops  from  Boston  to  Halifax, 
and,  entering  the  Royal  Navy,  became  a  sailing-master.  After 
the  Revolution,  he  married  Esther,  the  daughter  of  Ezekiel 
Foster,  of  Machias,  Maine,  and  settled  in  New  Brunswick. 
He  was  in  Boston  about  the  time  of  the  war  of  1812,  but  his 
subsequent  fate  is  unknown  to  his  family.  His  son,  Wilfred 
Fisher,  Esq.,  is  a  merchant  and  magistrate  of  the  island  of 
Grand  Menan,  New  Brunswick.  His  wife  died,  in  November, 
1844,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight  years,  at  the  residence  of  her 
son. 

FISHER,  WILFRED.  Of  Boston.  At  the  evacuation  of 
that  town,  he  accompanied  the  British  troops  to  Halifax, 
where  he  received  an  appointment  which  attached  him  to  a 
corps  of  light-horse.  He  died  at  Halifax  before  the  close  of 
the  war.  He  was  proscribed  and  banished  under  the  Act  of 
1778,  and  his  estate  in  Boston  was  confiscated.  His  son  Wil 
fred  was  a  Whig,  and  a  ship-master.  Captured  by  the  Brit 
ish,  he  was  carried  to  New  York,  and  died  there  a  prisoner, 
during  the  Revolution. 

FISHER,  JOHN.  Naval-officer,  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hamp 
shire.  Salary,  derivable  from  fees,  ,£200  per  annum.  Was 
proscribed  by  the  Act  of  New  Hampshire  of  1778.  He  went 


FITCH.  425 

to  England,  and  was  secretary  to  Lord  George  Germain. 
His  wife,  Anna,  sister  of  John  Wentworth,  the  last  Royal 
Governor  of  New  Hampshire,  died  at  Bath,  England,  in 
1811,  aged  sixty-six. 

FITCH,  THOMAS.  Of  Connecticut.  He  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1721,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  profession  of  the 
law.  He  held  the  offices  of  Councillor,  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court,  and  Lieutenant-Governor  ;  and  in  1754  was  elected 
Governor.  These  various  stations  he  filled  with  unsurpassed 
integrity  and  wisdom.  His  legal  knowledge  is  said  to  have 
equalled,  and  perhaps  exceeded,  that  of  any  other  lawyer  of 
Connecticut  during  the  period  of  her  Colonial  history.  In 
1765  he  took  the  oath  of  office  prescribed  in  the  Stamp  Act, 
and  was  driven  into  retirement  in  consequence  the  next  year ; 
having  occupied  the  Executive  Chair  for  the  whole  period 
between  1754  and  1766.  His  successor  was  the  Honorable 
William  Pitkin. 

Copy  of  inscription  on  the  monument  of  Governor  Fitch, 
at  Norwalk,  Connecticut  :  "  The  Hon'ble  Thomas  Fitch, 
Esq.,  Gov.  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut.  Eminent  and  dis 
tinguished  among  mortals  for  great  abilities,  large  acquire 
ments,  and  a  virtuous  character  :  a  clear,  strong,  sedate 
mind :  an  accurate,  extensive  acquaintance  with  law,  and 
civil  government :  a  happy  talent  of  presiding :  close  applica 
tion,  and  strict  fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  important  truths  : 
no  less  than  for  his  employments,  by  the  voice  of  the  people, 
in  the  chief  offices  of  state,  and  at  the  head  of  the  colony. 
Having  served  his  generation,  by  the  will  of  God,  fell  asleep, 
July  18,  Ann.  Domini,  1774,  in  the  75th  year  of  his  age." 

FITCH,  SAMUEL.  Of  Boston.  An  Addresser  of  Hutch- 
inson  in  1774.  In  1776  he  went  to  Halifax  with  his  family 
of  six  persons.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished. 
He  held  the  office  of  Solicitor  to  the  Board  of  Commission 
ers  ;  and,  like  most  of  his  official  associates,  was  included  in 
the  Conspiracy  Act  of  1779.  He  went  to  England,  was  a 
Loyalist  Addresser  of  the  King  in*  1779,  and  was  abroad  in 
1783. 

36* 


426  FITCH.  —  FITZSIMMONS. 

I  conclude  that  the  Samuel  Fitch  who  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1742,  and  died  in  1784,  was  the  subject  of  this 
notice. 

FITCH,  ELEAZER,  JR.  Of  Windham,  Connecticut.  Sheriff 
of  Windham  County.  More  than  one  hundred  citizens  of 
that  county  petitioned  the  House  of  Assembly,  September, 
1776,  for  his  removal  from  office,  on  account  of  many  words 
and  acts,  which  they  designate,  in  opposition  to  the  popular 
cause.  Among  them  are  the  singular  surnames  of  Devotion, 
Doughset,  Greenslitt,  Bibens. 

FITCH,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Maine.  Went  to  the  Kennebec 
River  in  1760,  and  was  employed  there  by  Dr.  Sylvester 
Gardiner,  as  a  millwright.  Violent  in  his  opposition  to  the 
Whigs,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  country.  He  enlisted, 
"and  was  killed  fighting  for  the  king."  His  wife  was  Ann 
McCausland. 

FITZPATRICK,  JAMES.  Of  Pennsylvania.  A  Tory  ma 
rauder,  known  as  "  Captain  Fitz."  At  first,  a  Whig,  and  in 
the  Continental  Army.  He  roamed  the  county  of  Chester, 
was  a  terror  to  the  Whigs,  and  seemingly  delighted  in  perils 
and  escapes.  His  exploits  were  the  theme  of  every  tongue. 
At  last,  in  1778,  when  a  reward  of  one  thousand  dollars  had 
been  offered  for  his  apprehension,  he  entered  a  house  to  "  levy 
his  dues  on  the  cursed  Rebels,"  and  was  seized  and  overpow 
ered  by  Robert  McPher  and  a  girl  named  Rachel  Walker. 
Conveyed  to  prison  in  Philadelphia,  he  broke  his  handcuffs 
twice  in  one  night ;  and,  sent  to  another  jail,  he  filed  off'  his 
irons,  and  got  out  of  his  dungeon.  He  was  hanged  at  last  at 
Chester,  Pennsylvania. 

FITZ-RANDOLPH,  -  — .  Of  New  Jersey.  Lieutenant 
in  the  Loyal  Militia.  Killed  near  Elizabethtown,  while  acting 
with  the  Queen's  Rangers. 

FITZSIMMONS,  PETER.  A  merchant.  At  Newtown,  New 
York,  at  some  time  in  the  war.  In  1782  he  opened  a  tavern 
there,  which  was  much  frequented  by  soldiers  and  Loyalists. 
He  also  kept  a  ferry.  At  the  peace,  he  went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick. 


FLEMING.  —  FLOYD.  427 

FLEMING,  JOHN.  Printer,  of  Boston.  Was  proscribed  and 
banished  by  the  Act  of  1778.  He  was  copartner  with  Mien. 
Some  of  the  books  which  they  printed  had  a  false  imprint, 
and  were  palmed  off  as  London  editions,  because  Mien  said, 
that  books  thus  published  met  with  a  better  sale.  In  1767 
they  commenced  the  "  Boston  Chronicle,"  a  paper  which,  in 
the  second  year  of  its  publication,  espoused  the  Royal  cause, 
and  became  extremely  abusive  of  numbers  of  the  most  re 
spectable  Whigs  of  Boston.  To  avoid  the  effects  of  popular 
resentment,  Mien  thought  fit  to  leave  the  country.  The 
"Chronicle"  was  the  first  paper  published  twice  a  week  in 
New  England  ;  and  was  suspended  in  1770.  Fleming  found 
it  prudent  to  retire  from  Boston  in  1773,  and  embarked  for 
England  in  that  year  with  his  family.  He  came  to  the  United 
States  more  than  once,  subsequent  to  1790,  as  the  agent  of  a 
commercial  house  in  Europe.  His  residence  was  in  France 
for  some  years,  and  he  died  there. 

FLETCHALL,  THOMAS.  Of  South  Carolina.  He  was  a 
colonel,  and  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force  of  Loyalists 
in  that  State,  during  the  difficulties  with  the  Cunninghams 
in  1775  ;  and  signed  the  truce  or  treaty  which  was  agreed 
upon  between  the  Whigs  and  their  opponents.  In  1776  he 
was  committed  to  prison  in  Charleston,  by  order  of  the  Pro 
vincial  Congress.  After  the  surrender  of  Charleston,  he  was 
in  commission  under  the  Crown.  In  1782  his  estate  was  con 
fiscated.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  person  of  much  consid 
eration  in  South  Carolina,  previous  to  the  Revolution  ;  and 
to  have  been  regarded  as  of  rather  doubtful,  or  undecided  pol 
itics,  though  the  Whigs  made  him  a  member  of  an  important 
standing  committee,  raised  with  the  design  of  carrying  out 

the  views  of  the  Continental  Congress. 

& 

FLEWELLING,  ABEL,  and  MORRIS.  Of  New  York.  Settled 
in  New  Brunswick  at  the  peace,  and  were  grantees  of  lands 
in  St.  John.  Abel  became  a  magistrate,  and  died  at  Mauger- 
ville  in  1814,  aged  sixty-eight. 

FLOYD,  RICHARD.  Of  New  York.  He  was  the  eldest  son 
of  Hon.  Richard  Floyd,  a  colonel  of  New  York  militia,  a 


428  FLOYD.  —  FLUCKER. 

Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas,  and  a  gentleman  of  wealth  and 
reputation.  His  wife  was  Arrabella,  a  daughter  of  Judge 
David  Jones,  of  Queen's  County,  New  York.  His  children 
were  Elizabeth,  who  married  John  Peter  De  Lancey,  and  was 
the  mother  of  the  wife  of  Cooper,  the  great  American  novel 
ist  ;  Anne,  a  younger  daughter  ;  and  one  son,  David  Richard. 
The  latter,  in  pursuance  of  the  will  of  Judge  Jones,  and  by 
legal  authority,  adopted  the  name  of  Jones  ;  he  died  in  1826, 
leavino-  two  sons,  to  wit :  Brigadier-General  Thomas  Floyd 
Jones,  and  Major-General  Henry  Floyd  Jones.  Mr.  Floyd's 
estate  was  confiscated  ;  and  abandoning  the  country,  he  died 
at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  His  family  was  one  of  the 
most  ancient  in  New  York,  and  is  distinguished  in  its  annals. 
Descended  from  the  same  ancestor  was  the  Whig  General 
William  Floyd,  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
The  Floyds  were  of  Welsh  origin,  and  the  first  of  the  name 
emigrated  in  1654,  and  settled  at  Brookhaven,  Long  Island, 
where  many  of  his  descendants  continued  until  the  Revolu 
tion. 

FLOYD,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Brookhaven,  Suffolk  County,  New 
York.  In  1775  he  circulated  a  paper  for  signatures,  to  sup 
port  the  Royal  authority,  in  opposition  to  the  proceedings  of 
the  Whigs,  and  obtained  the  names  of  about  one  hundred 
persons.  A  party  of  "  Rebels,"  in  1778,  entered  his  house 
at  night,  compelled  a  servant  to  show  them  in  which  room  he 
was  in  bed,  seized  him,  and  carried  him  to  Norwalk,  Connec 
ticut.  The  next  year,  another  party  of  about  twenty,  in 
whale-boats,  robbed  his  dwelling  of  £600,  and  the  most  val 
uable  part  of  his  household  goods.  He  was  a  major  in  the 
New  York  Militia. 

FLUCKER,  THOMAS.  Last  Secretary  of  the  Province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.  In  1765  he  was  member  of  a  committee 
of  the  Council  to  consider  and  report  what  could  be  done  to 
prevent  difficulties  in  the  proceedings  of  the  courts  of  justice  ; 
and,  three  years  later,  his  name  occurs  in  the  State  Papers, 
as  appointed  by  the  same  body  to  assist  in  drafting  an  Address 
to  the  King.  March  2d,  1774,  when  Lieutenant-Governor 


FLUCKER.  —  FOLLIOT.  429 

Oliver  was  senseless  and  dying,  John  Adams  records : 
"  Flucker  has  laid  in  to  be  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  has 
persuaded  Hutchinson  to  write  in  his  favor.  This  will  make 
a  difficulty."  Though  unsuccessful,  he  was  appointed  a  Man 
damus  Councillor.  Whig  mechanics  of  Boston  met  at  the 
Green  Dragon  tavern,  and  were  so  careful  of  their  secrets 
that  Colonel  Paul  Revere  (who  was  one  of  them)  says  they 
swore  on  the  Bible,  every  time  they  met,  to  discover  nothing 
except  to  Hancock,  Samuel  Adams,  Warren,  and  Church. 
The  latter  proved  a  traitor,  and  Secretary  Flucker  was  the 
first  to  acquaint  a  person  of  Loyalist  connections,  who  (a 
Whig  at  heart)  told  Revere,  that  all  their  transactions  were 
communicated  to  General  Gao;e.  In  1776  Flucker  was  in 

O 

London,  and  a  member  of  the  "  Brompton  Row  Tory  Club," 
or  Association  of  Loyalists,  who  met  weekly  for  conversation 
and  a  dinner.  He  died  in  England  suddenly,  in  1783.  He 
married  Hannah,  daughter  of  General  Waldo,  proprietor  of 
the  Waldo  Patent,  Maine,  to  whose  heirs  the  domain  de 
scended.  The  parts  which  belonged  to  Mrs.  Flucker  and  her 
two  brothers,  were  confiscated.  Henry  Knox,  Chief  of  Ar 
tillery  in  the  Revolution  and  Secretary  of  War  in  Washing 
ton's  administration,  who  married  Flucker's  daughter,  acquired 
a  very  large  share  of  it  on  easy  terms,  settled  at  Thomaston 
and  built  an  elegant  mansion,  in  which  he  himself  died  in 
1806,  and  his  wife  in  1824.  Mrs.  Flucker  remained  in  Eng 
land,  but  survived  her  husband  only  three  years. 

FLUCKER,  THOMAS,  JR.  Of  Massachusetts.  Son  of 
Thomas  Flucker.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
1773,  and  in  the  Revolution  was  an  officer  in  the  British  ser 
vice.  By  the  University  Catalogue,  it  appears  that  he  and 
his  father  died  the  same  year,  1783. 

FOLLIOT,  GEORGE.  Of  New  York.  He  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  for  the  city  and  county 
of  New  York,  in  1775,  but  declined  serving,  and  the  vacancy 
was  filled  in  June  of  that  year.  In  1776  he  was  an  Addres 
ser  of  Lord  and  Sir  William  Howe.  He  was  also  appointed 
a  member  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  but  refused  to 


430  FORBES. -FORD. 

act.  His  estate  of  twenty-one  acres  was  sold  by  the  Com 
missioners  of  Confiscation,  in  1784. 

FORBES,  REV.  ELI.  Of  Massachusetts.  Congregational 
minister.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1751,  and 
was  ordained  at  Brookfield  the  next  year.  He  was  dismissed 
in  1776,  "  on  suspicion  of  entertaining  Tory  principles;  "  and 
was  soon  after  installed  over  the  First  Parish  in  Gloucester. 
He  died  in  1804,  aged  seventy-seven.  His  first  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Parkman  of  Westborough, 
by  whom  he  was  the  father  of  two  children,  Eli  and  Polly. 
His  second  wife,  who  died  in  1780,  was  Lucy,  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Smith,  of  Falmouth,  (now  Portland,) 
Maine,  and  widow  of  Thomas  Sanders,  of  Gloucester. 

FORBES,  GILBERT.  Gunsmith,  of  Broadway,  New  York. 
In  1776  he  was  arrested  and  put  in  irons,  on  the  charge  of 
being  concerned  in  the  plot  of  certain  adherents  of  the  Crown 
to  murder  a  number  of  Whig  officers,  to  blow  up  the  maga 
zine,  &c.  When  told  that  he  had  but  a  short  time  to  live,  he 
asked  to  be  carried  before  Congress,  and  said  he  would  con 
fess  all  he  knewr.  He  is  described  as  "  a  short,  thick  man, 
with  a  white  coat/' 

FORD,  WILLIAM.  Captain  of  Loyalist  refugees.  In  1781, 
with  thirty-eight  men,  "  when  the  good  people  of  Middle 
sex  were  assembled,  and  devoutly  praying  for  their  great 
and  good  ally,"  he  surrounded  their  church,  and  took  from 
thence  "  fifty  notorious  Rebels,  their  Reverend  teacher,  and 
their  horses,  forty  in  number."  Though  harrassed  in  return 
ing  to  his  boats,  he  carried  off  "  every  Rebel  and  every 
horse."  Three  of  his  men  were  slightly  wounded.  This 
exploit  was  thought  extremely  meritorious  in  Loyalists  cir 
cles  ;  and  Ford's  "  bravery,  coolness  and  alertness,"  were 
duly  praised  in  an  official  report. 

FORD,  ELISHA.  Of  Marshfield,  Massachusetts.  He  was 
seized,  carted  to  the  liberty-pole  in  Duxbury,  and  compelled 
to  sign  a  Recantation.  He  was  afterwards  in  jail  at  Ply 
mouth,  Massachusetts,  and  ordered  by  Resolve,  June,  1776, 
to  remain  there  at  his  own  expense. 


FORD. -FOSTER.  431 

FORD,  SAMUEL.  Second  Lieutenant  of  the  Effinyliam  gal 
ley.  In  1778  he  was  tried  for  desertion  to  the  Royal  side 
during  the  siege  of  Fort  Mifflin  ;  convicted,  and  sentenced  to 
death. 

FORD,  JOHN.  Of  New  Jersey.  Compelled  to  leave  his 
residence  to  avoid  the  Whigs  who  molested  him,  he  fled  to  the 
Royal  forces  on  Staten  Island,  where  he  remained  some  years. 
In  1783  Sir  Guy  Carleton  commissioned  him  to  take  charge 
of  a  company  of  Loyalists,  who  were  emigrating  from  New 
York  to  Nova  Scotia.  He  settled  at  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  received  the  grant  of  a  city  lot  ;  hut  removed  to 
Hampton,  and  became  one  of  the  best  farmers  in  that  Colony. 
He  died  at  Hampton  in  1823,  aged  seventy-seven. 

FORREST,  JAMES.  Merchant,  of  Boston.  An  Addresser  of 
Hutchinson  in  1774.  In  1775  he  commanded,  in  Boston,  the 
Loyal  Irish  Volunteers,  a  company  raised  to  mount  guard 
every  evening,  armed,  and  distinguished  by  a  white  cockade. 
Went  to  Halifax  in  1776,  with  his  family  of  six  persons. 
Served  as  a  volunteer  in  the  battle  of  Germantown,  1777,  and 
was  wounded.  Proscribed  and  banished,  1778. 

FORRESTER,  GEORGE  PEABODY.  Died  at  Hampton,  King's 
County,  New  Brunswick,  in  1840,  aged  eighty-three  years. 

FORRESTER,  JOSEPH.  At  the  peace,  was  one  of  the  grantees 
of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  In  1795  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Loyal  Artillery  of  that  city.  He  died  while  at  Boston  in 
1804,  aged  forty-six. 

FORSTER,  MOSES.  In  September,  1779,  he  was  at  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  a  stranger  and  in  distress.  As  a  Loyalist,  he 
had  been  imprisoned  on  shore  a  year ;  harrassed  by  a  Whig 
committee  ;  driven  from  his  family ;  taken  out  of  bed  and 
conveyed  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  to  a  guardship,  and 
then  transported.  He  had  a  wife  and  eight  children  ;  and, 
at  the  above  date,  was  about  embarking  for  New  York. 

FOSTER,  THOMAS.  Of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts.  He 
represented  that  town  in  the  General  Court  several  years  ; 
and  in  1765  instructions  were  furnished  him  to  govern  his 
course  on  the  exciting  questions  of  the  time.  He  accom- 


432  FOSTER.  —  FOWLE. 

panied  the  British  Army  to  Halifax  in  1776.  Aside  from  his 
political  preferences,  he  was  esteemed  by  his  townsmen  for  his 
attention  and  fidelity  to  the  municipal  and  civil  concerns  in 
trusted  to  his  care.  His  father,  Deacon  John  Foster,  was  also 
a  representative  from  Plymouth,  and  pursued  an  independent 
line  of  conduct  in  that  relation,  never  accepting  of  Executive 
favors.  His  son  Thomas  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  Univer 
sity,  and  instructed  a  school  at  Plymouth.  His  grandson 
Thomas  was  an  officer  of  a  bank  at  Charleston,  South  Caro 
lina,  and  died  there  in  1808,  aged  fifty-eight.  Branches  of 
this  family  settled  in  Middleborough  and  Kingston,  Massa 
chusetts,  and  in  Norfolk,  Virginia. 

FOSTER,  EDWARD.  Of  Boston.  Addresser  of  Hutchinson, 
1774 ;  went  to  Halifax,  1776  ;  was  proscribed  and  banished 
in  1778.  He  settled  at  Dartmouth,  Nova  Scotia,  and  man 
aged  large  iron-works  there.  He  died  in  1786,  leaving 
thirteen  children. 

FOSTER,  EDWARD,  JR.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  Edward. 
Went  to  Halifax  in  1776  ;  was  proscribed  and  banished  in 
1778.  About  the  year  1814  he  settled  in  Union,  Maine, 
and  died  there  in  1822,  aged  seventy-two. 

FOWLE,  ROBERT.  Served  an  apprenticeship  with  his  uncle, 
Daniel  Fowle,  of  Portsmouth,  and  became  his  partner  in  the 
publication  of  the  "  New  Hampshire  Gazette,"  the  only  news 
paper  in  New  Hampshire  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu 
tion.  As  the  nephew  was  a  Loyalist,  and  the  uncle  a  Whig, 
their  connection  terminated  in  1774;  when  Robert  established 
himself  as  a  printer  at  Exeter.  The  new  paper  currency, 
which  he  printed,  having  been  counterfeited  soon  after,  sus 
picion  rested  on  him  as  a  participant  in  the  crime  ;  and  his 
flight  to  the  British  lines  in  New  York,  and  thence  abroad, 
served  to  confirm  the  impression.  Some  years  after  the  peace 
he  returned  to  the  United  States,  married  the  widow  of  his 
younger  brother,  and  lived  in  New  Hampshire  until  his 
decease.  His  father  was  John  Fowle,  first  a  silent  partner  of 
Rogers  &  Fowle,  of  Boston,  and  subsequently  an  Episcopal 
clergyman  at  Norwalk,  Connecticut.  The  firm  of  Rogers 


FOWLER.  433 

&  Fowle  printed  the  first  edition  of  the  New  Testament  in 
the  English  language  which  was  published  in  this  country. 
Robert,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  received  a  pension  from  the 
British  Government. 

FOWLER,  JONATHAN.  Of  West  Chester  County,  New 
York.  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  He  was  seized  by  a 
party  of  Whigs,  who  carried  him  to  New  Haven,  where  he 
signed  an  apology  for  protesting  against  Congress.  At  the 
peace,  he  went  to  Digby,  Nova  Scotia,  and  was  a  merchant 
and  ship-owner.  He  soon  died,  and  his  family  returned  to 
the  United  States. 

FOWLER,  CALEB.  Of  New  York.  In  1782  he  was  an  en 
sign  in  the  Loyal  American  Regiment.  He  settled  in  New 
Brunswick;  received  half-pay,  and  died  on  the  river  St. 
John. 

FOWLER,  CALEB.  Of  West  Chester  County,  New  York. 
He  was  one  of  the  Loyalist  Protesters  at  White  Plains,  April, 
177"),  who  denounced  Whig  Congresses  and  Committees,  and 
who  pledged  themselves  "at  the  hazard  of  their  lives  and 
properties,  to  support  the  King  and  Constitution."  He  en 
tered  the  Royal  service,  and  was  a  captain  in  the  Loyal 
American  Regiment.  At  the  peace  he  retired  to  New  Bruns 
wick  on  half-pay.  He  died  near  Fredericton. 

FOWLER.  Of  New  York.  Samuel  was  permitted  to  re 
turn  to  the  State  in  1784,  on  petition  of  Whigs.  —  Of  Massa 
chusetts.  John,  who,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  two  chil 
dren,  arrived  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  the  ship  Union, 
in  the  spring  of  1788.  Of  those  whose  places  of  residence  are 
unknown,  were  William,  who  was  a  captain,  and  Gilbert,  who 
was  an  ensign  in  the  Loyal  American  Regiment  ;  Gabriel,  who 
settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1783,  and  died  in  that  Colony  in 
1832,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  ;  Daniel,  who  boasted  of  being 
a  firm  Loyalist,  who  settled  in  the  same,  and  died  in  King's 
County  in  1813,  aged  sixty-five  ;  Henry,  who  died  in  the  same 
county  in  1848,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven  ;  and  another,  who, 
a  captain  in  De  Lancey's  Brigade,  was  killed  on  an  incursion 
to  Horseneck  in  1780.  Still  again,  Amos,  Aaron,  Andrew, 

VOL.  i.  37 


434  FOUGHT.  —  FOXCROFT. 

Josiali,  and  Jeremiah  Fowler,  in  1783,  were  petitioners  for 
lands  in  Nova  Scotia. 

FOUGHT,  GEORGE.  Of  New  York.  He  went  to  New 
Brunswick  in  1783,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1823,  aged 
eighty-three. 

FOULIS,  JAMES.  Of  South  Carolina.  Episcopal  minister. 
Entered  upon  his  duties  in  1770  ;  went  to  England  in  1779. 

FOUNTAIN,  STEPHEN.  Of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  He 
wrote  a  letter,  addressed  to  "  Darias  Olmstead,  at  Norwalk, 
This  with  care,"  September,  1776  ;  but  the  letter  was  really  to 
his  mother,  brothers,  and  sister.  He  had  a  wife,  and  sent  his 
love  to  her.  He  was  an  ignorant  man  ;  and  his  letter  is  full 
of  errors  and  exaggerations.  Convicted  the  same  year,  by 
three  Whig  committees,  of  taking  up  arms,  of  corresponding 
with  the  British  ships,  and  seducing  many  to  espouse  the  Royal 
side,  he  was  made  prisoner,  carried  to  Congress,  and  committed. 
He  arrived  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  with  his  wife,  in  1783, 
in  the  ship  Union. 

FOUNTAIN,  JOHN.  Went  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  in 
1783,  where  he  had  a  fine  vegetable  and  flower  garden.  The 
story  is  that  he  used  to  let  the  boys  eat  currants  at  a  penny 
each.  He  removed  to  Deer  Island,  New  Brunswick,  and  died 
there  in  1829,  aged  eighty-five. 

FOXCROFT,  JOHN.  One  of  the  two  Postmasters-General  of 
the  Crown  in  the  thirteen  Colonies.  He  discharged  the  post- 
rider  between  New  York  and  Boston,  April,  1775,  as  he  in 
formed  the  Whig  Committee  of  the  former  city,  because  the 
mails  had  been  stopped,  the  bags  broken  open,  and  many  of  the 
letters  taken  out  and  publicly  read.  "A  Constitutional  Post- 
office  rose  on  the  ruins  of  the  Parliamentary  one,"  in  May  of 
the  same  year.  "  The  post,  from  New  York  for  the  eastward, 
sets  out  about  nine  o'clock  on  Monday,  about  noon  on  Thurs 
day,  and  returns  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays."  In  1776, 
we  have  three  incidents  ;  thus,  in  February,  the  following  let 
ter  to  Tuthil  Hulbart,  Boston  :  - 

"DEAR  SIR,  —  You  will  excuse  my  troubling  you  with  the 
enclosed  bill,  which  1  beg  you  will  receive  in  a  sterling  bill  of 


FOXCROFT.  —  FR  ANCIS.  435 

exchange,  if  to  be  had,  and  remit  it  to  Mr.  Benson  Fearon, 
Merchant,  in  London,  advising  me  of  it  by  the  first  opportu 
nity.  I  must  not  omit  mentioning  to  you,  that  the  first  bill 
was  remitted  to  Mr.  Harry  Lloyd,  who  never  acknowledged 
the  receipt  of  it ;  and  therefore  it  probably  miscarried.  Your 
negotiating  this  matter  will  lay  me  under  a  great  obligation  ; 
but  in  return,  you  know,  if  I  can  render  you  any  service  this 
way,  you  have  only  to  command  me.  I  have  not  had  one 
line  from  you  since  the  affair  at  Lexington ;  nor  from  Siikey 
since  she  left  us.  Mrs.  Foxcroft  and  my  little  girls  are  well. 
She  joins  me  in  sincere  regards  to  you  and  family. 
"  I  am  yours,  as  ever, 

"  JOHN  FOXCROFT." 

Next,  in  March,  when  the  Provincial  Congress  allowed  him 
to  go  on  board  the  ships  in  New  York  harbor,  to  sort  and  count, 
for  delivery,  letters  from  abroad.  Last,  in  November,  when 
he  was  a  prisoner  in  Philadelphia.  In  1789  he  was  at  liberty 
on  parole,  and  in  New  York.  After  the  war  he  was  agent  for 
the  British  packets  in  the  last-named  city,  and  died  there  in 
1790. 

FOXCROFT,  THOMAS.  Joint  Postmaster-General  with  John. 
Went  to  England,  and  died  there  suddenly  in  1785.  Eliza 
beth,  their  sister,  and  wife  of  Benson  Fearon,  died  in  Eng 
land,  1801. 

FOY,  EDWARD.  Of  Virginia.  He  entered  the  British 
Army  in  1757,  and  was  a  captain  in  1764.  He  accompanied 
Lord  Dun  more  to  New  York,  as  his  private  secretary,  in 
1770  ;  and  served  in  the  same  capacity  when  his  Lordship 

was  transferred  to  the  government  of  Virginia.      He  returned 

&  & 

to  England  in  1775  ;  but  probably  came  back  to  America  a 
year  or  two  afterward. 

FRANCIS,  THOMAS.  A  negro  slave,  purchased  by  Philip 
Lott  of  Elihu  Spencer,  of  New  Jersey.  He  ran  away  to 
New  York  on  2d  November,  1782,  and  was  enlisted  by  Cap 
tain  Thelwal  into  the  Jamaica  Rangers.  He  was  reclaimed 
by  the  American  Commissioners,  in  June,  1783 ;  but  Sir 
Guy  Carleton  refused  to  give  him  up,  since  he  had  joined 
him  under  the  sanction  of  the  Negro  Proclamation. 


436  FRANKLAND. 

FRANKLAND,  LADY  AGNES.  Of  Massachusetts.  Wife  of  Sir 
Charles  Henry  Frankland,  Baronet.  According  to  "  Burke's 
Peerage,"  her  maiden  name  was  Agnes  Brown  ;  others  call  her 
Ao-nes  Surraj^e.  The  story  told  of  her  is  romantic  enough. 

<T?  •/  O 

Sir  Charles,  who  was  a  grandson  of  Frances,  daughter  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  was  appointed  Collector  of  the  Customs  for 
the  port  of  Boston,  in  1741  ;  and  first  saw  Agnes  at  Marble- 
head,  when  she  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  a  servant- 
girl  at  a  tavern.  She  was  of  "  matchless  beauty,"  and,  the 
Baronet  becoming  enamored  with  her,  obtained  the  consent 
of  her  parents  to  take  her  to  Boston,  where  he  placed  her  at 
school,  "  clothed  her  in  the  best,  and  in  every  way  sought  to 
develop  her  body  and  mind."  The  end  wras,  that  he  won  her 
affections,  and,  as  her  humble  rank  presented  obstacles  to 
marriage,  she  consented  to  live  with  him  as  his  mistress. 
This  arrangement  caused  great  commotion  ;  and  Sir  Charles 
bought  an  estate  in  Hopkinton,  built  a  house  upon  it,  and 
removed  thither,  with  "his  Agnes  and  some  of  his  boon  com 
panions."  Some  years  afterwards  he  wras  appointed  Consul- 
General  to  Portugal,  and  took  Agnes  with  him.  At  the  mo 
ment  of  the  great  earthquake  at  Lisbon,  1755,  he  was  riding 
out ;  "  his  horses  were  swallowed  in  the  opening  earth,  and 
his  carnage  was  covered  with  the  ruins  of  falling  buildings ;  " 
and  he  himself  expected  to  be  crushed  to  death.  While  he 
lay  buried,  "  the  evils  of  his  past  career  came  forcibly  to 
mind;  and,  if  saved,  he  resolved  to  live  a  better  life."  Mean 
time  his  mistress  was  in  search  of  him,  found  the  spot,  heard 
his  voice,  and  offered  a  large  reward  for  his  rescue.  The  day 
after  this  fearful  event,  he  led  Agnes  to  the  altar ;  and  the 
marriage  ceremony  was  repeated  in  the  Episcopal  form,  after 
his  return  to  England.  He  came  again  to  Boston,  and  pur 
chased  an  estate  in  Garden  Court,  North  Square,  near  or 
adjoining  the  house  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  where  he  is  said 
to  have  lived  in  much  style.  While  Collector,  he  was  often 
absent;  and,  finally,  in  1759,  was  suspended  for  inattention  to 
duty ;  and  William  Sheaffe,  who  had  often  had  charge  of  the 
business  of  the  office,  was  appointed  in  his  stead.  The  Bar- 


FRANKLAND.  437 

onet's  mansion  at  Hopkinton  (burned  in  1858)  attracted 
many  visitors  ;  on  going  over  it  myself,  I  could  hardly  imag 
ine  —  altered  as  it  was  —  that  while  he  occupied  it,  he  "  main 
tained  the  splendor  of  an  English  nobleman  ;  "  and  the  terms 
u  elegant,  very  large  and  fine,"  often  applied  to  it,  seemed 
quite  extravagant.  He  died  at  Bath,  England,  in  1765,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Thomas,  who,  an  Admiral  of 
the  White,  married  Susan,  granddaughter  of  Chief  Justice 
Illicit,  of  South  Carolina. 

Lady  Frankland,  accompanied  by  her  natural  son,  arrived 
in  America  from  Bristol  in  1768  ;  and  designed,  probably,  to 
remain.  At  Hopkinton,  May,  1775  ;  and,  alarmed  at  the 
movements  of  the  people,  her  Ladyship  asked  leave  to  remove 
to  Boston.  The  Committee  of  Safety  gave  her  liberty  to  pass 
to  the  capital  with  six  trunks,  one  chest,  three  beds  and  bed 
ding  for  the  same,  six  sheep,  two  pigs,  one  small  keg  of  pickled 
tongues,  some  hay,  three  bags  of  corn,  and  such  other  goods 
as  she  should  think  proper  to  carry  thither  ;  and  gave  her  a 
written  permit  accordingly,  signed  by  "  Benjamin  Church,  Jr., 
Chairman."  Thus  protected,  she  set  out  on  her  journey  with 
her  attendants  ;  but  was  arrested  by  a  party  of  armed  men, 
who  detained  her  person  and  her  effects,  until  an  order  for 
the  release  of  both  was  obtained."  To  prevent  further  annoy 
ance,  the  Provincial  Congress  furnished  her  with  an  escort ; 
and,  by  two  resolves  subsequently,  allowed  her  to  take  seven 
trunks,  all  her  beds  and  bedding,  all  her  boxes  and  crates,  a 
basket  of  chickens,  two  barrels  and  a  hamper,  two  horses  and 
chaises,  one  phaeton,  some  ham  and  veal,  and  sundry  small 
bundles ;  and  required  all  persons  who  had  any  of  her  prop 
erty  in  possession  to  place  the  same,  essentially,  at  her  dispo 
sal.  The  "  arms  and  ammunition,"  deposited  in  a  chaise,  a 
committee  retained.  These  details  are  not  trivial,  because 
they  show  the  spirit  of  the  time.  Lady  Frankland  was  in 
Boston  on  the  17th  of  June,  and  gazed  from  her  own  house 
upon  the  conflict  on  Bunker's  Hill.  She  returned  to  England. 
In  1782  she  married  John  Drew,  a.  banker  of  Chichester  ;  and 
died  at  that  place  the  year  after,  at  about  the  age  of  fifty-five. 
37* 


438  FRANKLIN. 

FRANKLIN,  WILLIAM.  Last  Royal  Governor  of  New  Jer 
sey.  Natural  son  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  Born  about  the 
year  1731. 

His  father  said  of  him  :  "  Will,  is  now  nineteen  years  of  age, 
a  tall,  proper  youth,  and  much  of  a  beau.  He  acquired  a 
habit  of  idleness,  ....  but  begins  of  late  to  apply  himself 
to  business,  and  I  hope  will  become  an  industrious  man.  He 
imagined  his  father  had  got  enough  for  him,  but  I  have  as 
sured  him  that  I  intend  to  spend  what  little  I  have  myself,  if 
it  please  God  that  I  live  long  enough  ;  and,  as  he  by  no  means 
wants  acuteness,  he  can  see  by  my  going  on,  that  I  mean  to 
be  as  good  as  my  word."  He  served  as  postmaster  of  Phil 
adelphia,  and  as  clerk  of  the  House  of  Assembly  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  In  the  French  war  he  was  a  captain,  and  gained  praise 
for  his  conduct  at  Ticonderoga.  Before  the  peace  he  went  to 
England  with  his  father.  While  there,  Mr.  Strahan  wrote 
Mrs.  Franklin:  "  Your  son  I  really  think  one  of  the  prettiest 
young  gentlemen  I  ever  knew  from  America.  He  seems  to  me 
to  have  a  solidity  of  judgment,  not  very  often  to  be  met  with 
in  one  of  his  years/'  On  the  other  hand,  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey 
records  (March  5,  1760)  :  "  This  morning  waited  upon  the 
famous  Mr.  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  received  an  invitation  to 

dine His  son  dined  with   us,  a  barrister-at-law.      He 

is  a  gentleman  of  good  education,   but  has  passed  away  the 
flower  of  his  youth  in   too  many  extravagancies." 

While  abroad,  young  Franklin  visited  Scotland,  and  became 
acquainted  with  the  celebrated  Earl  of  Bute,  who  recom 
mended  him  to  Lord  Fairfax,  who  secured  for  him,  as  is  said, 
the  appointment  of  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  in  1703,  without 
the  solicitation  of  himself  or  his  father.  Whatever  the  truth, 
John  Penn,  who  was  in  England,  said  in  a  letter  to  Lord 
Stirling,  that  the  business  was  managed  so  privately  that 
"  there  was  no  opportunity  of  counteracting,  or,  indeed,  do 
ing  one  single  thing  that  might  put  a  stop  to  this  shameful 
affair.  I  make  no  doubt  but  the  people  of  New  Jersey  will 
make  some  remonstrance  upon  this  indignity  put  upon  them. 
....  What  a  dishonor  and  disgrace  it  must  be  to  a  country 


FRANKLIN.  439 

to  have  such  a  man  at  the  head  of  it,  and  to  sit  down  con 
tented  !  ....  If  any  gentleman  had  been  appointed,  it  would 
have  been  a  different  case,"  &c. 

The  biographer  of  his  Lordship  remarks  that  the  disgust  at 
Franklin's  appointment,  "arose  in  part,  probably,  from  the 
illegitimacy  of  his  birth,"  but  principally  from  his  "  time 
serving  conduct  and  courtier-like  propensities  ;  "  and  lie  adds 
that  the  Governor  "  was  originally  a  Whig,  but  became,  cs 
virtutc  offtcii,  a  Tory." 

Governor  Franklin's  first  serious  dispute  with  the  Assembly 
appears  to  have  been  caused  by  his  course  in  relation  to  the 
removal  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Colony,  who  was  a  defaulter. 
On  the  llth  of  June,  1774,  the  Whigs  of  Essex  County  met 
in  Convention,  and  adopted  various  resolutions  expressive  of 
their  sentiments  on  the  alarming  state  of  affairs,  which  gave 
Governor  Franklin  much  uneasiness.  In  January,  177"),  he 
met  the  Assembly.  A  considerable  part  of  his  speech  is  de 
voted  to  the  controversy  between  the  Colonies  and  the  mother 
country,  and  to  warnings  to  the  members  against  imitating  the 
example  of  those  whose  course  of  conduct  was  likely  to  involve 
the  country  in  afflictive  calamities. 

The  Governor  and  the  Assembly  parted  in  bad  temper. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  reduce  his  Excellency's  salary  from 
£1200  to  £1000,  and  in  appropriating  £60  for  the  payment 
of  the  rent  of  his  house,  the  condition  that  he  should  reside 
either  at  Perth  Amboy  or  Burlington  was  annexed  to  the 
grant.  His  situation  was  unhappy.  All  intercourse  between 
himself  and  his  father  had  now  been  suspended  for  more  than 
a  year  ;  and  he  was  involved  in  a  helpless  quarrel  with  the 
delegates  and  the  people  of  New  Jersey.  On  the  loth  of 
February,  1775,  he  prorogued  the  Assembly.  In  March,  a 
letter  alleged  to  have  been  written  by  him  to  Lord  Dartmouth, 
was  laid  before  the  House  of  Commons  by  Lord  North,  which 
in  America  caused  much  excitement ;  and  when  the  Assem 
bly  of  New  Jersey  met  in  the  following  month  of  May,  a  mes 
sage  was  sent  to  the  Governor,  requesting  him  to  inform  that 
body  whether  it  was  genuine,  or  whether  it  contained  the 


440  FRANKLIN. 

substance  of  any  letter  which  he  had  written  relative  to  the 
measures  adopted  at  the  last  session  of  the  Assembly.  In  his 
answer,  he  explicitly  denies  its  authenticity,  and  that  no  simi 
lar  sentiments  had  been  uttered  by  him  in  any  communication 
to  the  King's  ministers.  But  his  message  of  reply  is  bitter  and 
uncompromising  throughout.  "  It  has  been  my  unhappiness 
almost  every  session  during  the  existence  of  the  present  Assem 
bly,"  -  —  is  the  opening  remark,  —  "  that  a  majority  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  House  have  suffered  themselves  to  be  persuaded  to 
seize  on  every  opportunity  of  arraigning  my  conduct,  or  foment 
ing  some  dispute,  let  the  occasion  be  ever  so  trifling,  or  let  me 
be  ever  so  careful  to  avoid  giving  any  just  cause  of  offence. 
This,  too,  has  been  done  with  such  an  eagerness  in  the  pro 
moters  of  it,  as  can  only  be  accounted  for  on  a  supposition 
that  they  are  cither  actuated  by  unmanly  private  resentment, 
or  by  a  conviction  that  their  whole  political  consequence  de 
pends  upon  a  contention  with  their  Governor."  He  concludes 
this  ill-natured  document  with  saying,  that  those  who  knew 
him  best  would  do  him  the  justice  "  to  allow  that  no  office 
of  honor  in  the  power  of  the  Crown  to  bestow  would  ever  in 
fluence  him  to  forget  or  neglect  the  duty  he  owed  his  country, 
nor  the  most  furious  rage  of  the  most  intemperate  zealots  in 
duce  him  to  swerve  from  the  duty  he  owed  his  Majesty." 
The  Assembly  was  prorogued  on  the  20th  of  May,  (and  on 
the  day  of  transmitting  this  answer),  to  meet  on  the  20th  of 
June  following;  but  affairs  had  now  reached  a  crisis,  and 
Governor  Franklin  never  communicated  with  that  body  again. 
Three  days  after  the  prorogation,  the  first  Provincial  Congress 
of  New  Jersey  commenced  their  session  at  Trenton,  and  the 
Royal  Government  soon  ceased  to  be  respected,  and  to  exist. 
A  constitution  was  adopted  in  July,  1776  ;  and  William  Liv 
ingston,  a  member  of  the  first  Continental  Congress,  became 
Franklin's  successor. 

The  deposed  representative  of  Royalty  was  declared  to  be 
an  enemy  to  his  country,  and  ordered  to  be  sent  a  prisoner  to 
Connecticut.  He  was  accordingly  placed  in  the  custody  of  a 
guard  commanded  by  a  captain,  who  had  orders  to  deliver  him 


FRANKLIN.  441 

to  Governor  Trumbull.  The  officer  in  charge  halted  at  Hack- 
ensack,  and  was  rebuked  by  Washington  for  his  delay.  The 
Commander-in-Chief  was  of  the  opinion,  from  circumstances 
communicated  to  him,  that  the  fallen  Governor  designed  to 
effect  his  escape  ;  that  his  refusal  to  sign  the  parole  proposed 
by  the  Whig  Convention  of  New  Jersey,  and  a  letter  to  Mrs. 
Franklin  which  had  been  intercepted,  afforded  sufficient  rea 
sons  for  the  exercise  of  great  watchfulness  and  care.  It  ap 
pears  that  he  was  indulged  in  selecting  the  place  of  his  con 
finement,  and  that  he  made  choice  of  Connecticut.  He  was 
conveyed  to  East  Windsor,  and  quartered  in  the  house  of  Cap 
tain  Ebenezer  Grant.1  In  1777  he  requested  liberty  to  visit 
his  wife,  who  was  a  few  miles  distant  and  sick.  In  reply,  he 
received  the  following  letter :  — 

"  Head- Quarters,  July  25th.  1777. 

"Sin,  —  I  have  this  moment  received  yours  of  the  22d  inst. 
by  express.  I  heartily  sympathize  with  you  in  your  distress 
ing  situation  ;  but,  however  strong  my  inclination  to  comply 
with  your  request,  it  is  by  no  means  in  my  power  to  supersede 
a  positive  Resolution  of  Congress,  under  which  your  present 
confinement  took  place.  I  have  enclosed  your  letter  to  them  ; 
and  shall  be  happy,  if  it  may  be  found  consistent  with  pro 
priety,  to  concur  with  your  wishes  in  a  matter  of  so  delicate 
and  interesting  a  nature.  I  sincerely  hope  a  speedy  restora 
tion  of  Mrs.  Franklin's  health  may  relieve  you  from  the  anx 
iety  her  present  declining  condition  must  naturally  give  you. 
"  I  am,  with  due  respect, 

"  Sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  G.  WASHINGTON." 

Congress  declined  to  allow  the  Governor  to  visit  his  wife, 
and  he  continued  at  East  Windsor.  This  lady  was  born  in 
the  West  Indies  ;  it  is  said  that  she  was  much  affected  by  the 
severity  of  Doctor  Franklin  to  her  husband  while  he  was  a 
prisoner.  She  died  in  1778,  in  her  forty-ninth  year,  and  it  is 

l  This  building  is  still  (1844)  standing  ;  it  is  near  the  Theological  Semi 
nary. 


442  FRANKLIN. 

inscribed  on  the  monumental  tablet  erected  to  her  memory  in 
St.  Paul's  Church,  New  York,  that,  "  Compelled  to  part  from 
the  husband  she  loved,  and  at  length  despairing  of  the  sooth 
ing  hope  of  his  speedy  return,  she  sunk  under  accumulated 
distresses,"  &c. 

In  1778,  after  the  arrival  in  America  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
an  exchange  was  effected,  and  Governor  Franklin  was  re 
leased.  Little  seems  to  be  known  of  his  proceeding  during 
the  remainder  of  the  war.  He  served  for  a  short  period  as 
President  of  the  Board  of  Loyalists  which  was  organized  in 
New  York  ;  but  soon  went  to  England.  The  adherents  of 
the  Crown  were  greatly  alarmed  at  the  distinction  made  be 
tween  themselves  and  other  subjects,  in  the  articles  of  capitu 
lation  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  and  Franklin  wrote  to  Lord 
George  Germain,  who  was  then  Secretary  for  the  American 
Department,  on  the  subject.  His  Lordship,  in  answer,  stated 
that  "  the  alarm  taken  by  the  Loyal  Refugees  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,"  and  that,  by  command  of  his  Majesty,  he  had 
directed  Sir  Henrv  Clinton  to  make  the  strongest  assurances 

«/  O 

for  their  "  welfare  and  safety." 

In  AYest's  picture  of  the  "  Reception  of  the  American  Loy 
alists  by  Great  Britain,  in  the  year  1783,"  Governor  Frank 
lin  and  Sir  William  Pepperell  are  the  prominent  personages 
represented,  and  are  placed  at  the  head  of  the  group  of  figures  ; 
the  first  (in  the  words  of  the  description  or  explanation)  is  a 
"son  of  Doctor  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  having  his  Majesty's 
commission  of  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  preserved  his  fidelity 
and  loyalty  to  his  Sovereign  from  the  commencement  to  the 
conclusion  of  the  contest,  notwithstanding  powerful  incite 
ments  to  the  contrary."  1 

In  1784,  the  father  and  son,  after  an  estrangement  of  ten 
years,  became  reconciled  to  one  another.  The  son  appears  to 
have  made  the  first  overture.  Doctor  Franklin,  in  acknowl 
edging  the  receipt  of  his  letter,  says  in  reply,  on  the  16th  of 
August  of  that  year  :  "  I  am  glad  to  find  that  you  desire  to 

1  For  the  remainder  of  the  description  of  this  picture,  see  notice  of  Sir 
William  Pepperell. 


FRANKLIN.  443 

revive  the  affectionate  intercourse  that  formerly  existed  be 
tween  us.  It  will  be  very  agreeable  to  me;  indeed  nothing 
has  ever  hurt  me  so  much,  and  affected  me  with  such  keen 
sensations,  as  to  find  myself  deserted  in  my  old  age  by  my 
only  son  ;  and  not  only  deserted,  but  to  find  him  taking  up 
arms  against  me  in  a  cause  wherein  my  good  fame,  fortune, 
and  life,  were  all  at  stake.  You  conceived,  you  say,  that 
your  duty  to  your  king  and  regard  for  your  country  required 
this.  I  ought  not  to  blame  you  for  differing  in  sentiment 

•/  £"> 

with  me  in  public  affairs.  We  are  all  men,  subject  to  errors. 
Our  opinions  are  not  in  our  power  ;  they  are  formed  and  gov 
erned  much  by  circumstances,  that  are  often  as  inexplicable  as 
they  are  irresistible.  Your  situation  was  such,  that  few  would 
have  censured  your  remaining  neuter,  though  there  are  nat 
ural  duties  which  precede  political  ones,  and  cannot  be  extin 
guished  by  them.  This  is  a  disagreeable  subject ;  I  drop  it. 
And  we  will  endeavor,  as  you  propose,  mutually  to  forget 
what  has  happened  relating  to  it,  as  well  as  we  can." 

The  Doctor,  I  conclude,  was  never  able  to  forget,  entirely, 
the  alienation  which  had  happened  between  them.  In  a  let 
ter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Byles  (1788),  he  said:  "I,  too,  have 
a  daughter,  who  lives  with  me,  and  is  the  comfort  of  my  de 
clining  years,  while  my  son  is  estranged  from  me  by  the  part 
he  took  in  the  late  war,  and  keeps  aloof,  residing  in  England, 
wrhose  cause  he  espoused;  whereby  the  old  proverb  is  exem 
plified  :  — 

"  My  son  is  my  son  till  he  gets  him  a  wife  ; 
But  my  (laughter's  my  daughter  all  the  days  of  her  life." 

In  his  will,  dated  June  28,  1789,  a  few  months  before  his 
own  decease,  he  thus  remembers  his  son  William,  late  Gov 
ernor  of  the  Jerseys  :  — 

"  I  give  and  devise  all  the  lands  I  hold  or  have  a  right  to 
in  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  hold  to  him,  his  heirs  and 
assigns  forever.  I  also  give  to  him  all  my  books  and  papers 
which  he  has  in  his  possession,  and  all  debts  standing  against 
him  on  my  account-books,  willing  that  no  payment  for,  nor 
restitution  of,  the  same  be  required  of  him  by  my  executors. 


444  FRANKS. 

The  part  he  acted  against  me  in  the  late  war,  which  is  of 
public  notoriety,  will  account  for  my  leaving  him  no  more  of 
an  estate  he  endeavored  to  deprive  me  of." 

Though  the  part  he  acted  against  his  father  was  of  public 
notoriety,  rumors  reached  the  ears  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Loyalist  Claims,  that  the  disagreement  between  the  Doctor 
and  his  son  had  been  collusive,  and  was  more  politic  than  sin 
cere  ;  and  the  Governor  was  accordingly  required  to  exhibit 
proofs  of  his  loyalty  and  uniform  attachment  to  the  Royal 
cause.  The  commissioners  themselves,  probably,  entertained 
no  doubts  on  the  subject,  but  examined  the  charge  to  satisfy 
the  public,  and  to  relieve  the  accused  from  what  they  believed 
to  be  an  unfounded  imputation.  Among  the  witnesses  who 
testified  in  his  favor  was  Sir  Henry  Clinton.  He  made  a 
schedule  of  his  losses,  which  were  by  no  means  considerable. 
Indeed,  Governor  Franklin  must  have  been  poor.  His  per 
sonal  estate  was  valued  at  only  £1800,  which  sum  the  com 
missioners  allowed  him.  He  had  several  shares  in  back  lands 
and  grants,  but  as  he  was  indebted  to  his  father,  and  had  con 
veyed  to  him  all  his  real  property  in  New  York  and  New 
Jersey,  the  loss  of  his  office  and  its  emoluments,  and  the 
£1800  above  mentioned,  comprised  the  principal  items  in  his 
account,  and  for  which  he  claimed  compensation.  Governor 
Franklin  continued  in  England  during  the  remainder  of  his 

^>  t"? 

life.  He  enjoyed  a  pension,  it  is  believed,  of  the  amount 
of  £800  per  annum.  He  died  in  November,  1813,  at  the 
age  of  about  eighty-two.  Some  years  after  the  death  of  his 
first  wife,  he  married  a  lady  who  was  born  in  Ireland.  His 
son,  William  Temple  Franklin,  who  edited  the  works  of 
Doctor  Franklin,  died  at  Paris,  in  May,  1823. 

FRANKS,  DAVID.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Commissary  of  Brit 
ish  prisoners.  In  1778,  detected  in  endeavoring  to  transmit 
within  the  enemy's  lines  a  letter  which  was  deemed  to  con 
tain  sentiments  inimical  to  the  Whig  cause,  General  Arnold, 
who  was  then  in  command  at  Philadelphia,  was  directed  by 
Congress  to  cause  his  immediate  arrest  and  confinement  in 
jail.  It  was  resolved,  also,  that  he  should  no  longer  perform 


FRAZER.  445 

the  duties  of  Commissary  ;  and  that  Washington  give  infor 
mation  of  these  proceedings  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  with  a 
view  to  the  appointment  of  a  successor.  In  January,  1779,  he 
applied  for  leave  to  send  his  clerk,  Patrick  Rice,  to  New  York, 
to  settle  his  public  accounts,  which  was  granted.  In  1780  he 
was  ordered  to  depart  the  State  ;  but,  as  he  delayed,  on  the 
18th  of  November  a  pass  for  himself  and  daughter  to  New 
York  was  sent  from  the  Council,  with  the  suggestion  that 
compulsory  measures  would  be  adopted,  on  further  disobe 
dience  to  the  mandate  of  banishment.  He  replied  on  the 
21st,  giving  his  reasons  for  remaining  in  Philadelphia  so  long  ; 
and  asked  that  his  pass  might  be  amended  to  include  a  ser 
vant-woman  and  his  necessary  baggage.  He  wrote  again  on 
the  22d,  stating  an  excuse  ;  and  on  the  23d  President  Reed 
informed  him  that  he  was  expected  to  set  out  on  his  journey 
the  next  day  ;  that  his  excuse,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Council, 
was  a  very  frivolous  one;  and  that  no  further  indulgence 
would  be  allowed  him  by  that  body. 

FRAZER,  CHARLES.  Of  South  Carolina.  After  the  fall 
of  Charleston,  in  1780,  he  was  "  town-major."  Upon  the 
application  of  an  individual  for  rations,  he  issued  an  order, 
from  which  I  extract  sufficient  to  show  its  nature.  Thus : 
"  All  difficulties  with  regard  to  provisions  ought  to  have  been 
considered  before  people  entered  into  rebellion,  or,  in  the 
course  of  these  twelve  months,  while  they  have  been  allowed 
to  walk  about  on  parole.  All  militia  prisoners  and  others  on 
parole,  are  to  keep  their  paroles  and  to  remain  in  their  houses. 
...  .  It  is  ordered  that  no  person,  now  a  prisoner  on  parole, 
in  Charleston,  shall  have  the  liberty  of  exercising  any  pro 
fession,  trade,  mechanic  art,  business,  or  occupation  ;  and  his 
his  Majesty's  subjects  are  hereby  strictly  enjoined  and  required 
not  to  employ  such  person  or  persons  on  any  pretence."  In 
1781  (July  26)  he  addressed  the  following  note  to  the  ill- 
fated  Colonel  Isaac  Hayne  :  "  Sir,  I  am  charged  by  the 
commandant  to  inform  you,  that  a  council  of  general  officers 
will  assemble  to-morrow,  at  ten  o'clock,  in  the  hall  of  the 
Province,  to  try  you."  He  wrote  the  next  day  to  announce, 

VOL.  i.  38 


446  FRAZER. 

that,  instead  of  u  a  council,"  his  case  would  be  submitted  to 
"  a  court  of  inquiry,  composed  of  four  general  officers  and 
five  captains  "  ;  and  that  he  would  be  allowed  materials  for 
writing,  and  to  select  counsel.  On  the  29th  of  July,  he  ad 
dressed  a  third  note,  in  which  he  said  :  "  The  Adjutant  of 
the  town  will  be  so  good  as  to  go  to  Colonel  Hayno,  in  the 
Provost's  prison,  and  inform  him,  that  .  .  .  Lord  Rawdon 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Nesbit  Balfour  have  resolved  upon  his 
execution,  on  Tuesday,  the  31st  instant,  at  six  o'clock,"  in 
consequence  of  the  decision  of  the  court  of  inquiry,  "  for 
having  been  found  under  arms,  and  employed  in  raising  a 
regiment  to  oppose  the  British  Government,  though  he  had 
become  a  subject,  and  had  accepted  the  protection  of  that 
government  after  the  reduction  of  Charleston." 

o 

FRAZER,  JAMES.  Of  South  Carolina.  Physician.  In 
1781  he  was  Acting  Barrack-master  of  Charleston,  and  in 
July  of  that  year  promulgated  an  order  forbidding  persons 
u  living  under  the  Rebel  Government "  to  let  or  lease  any 
house  without  special  license  ;  as  it  was  intended  to  take  all 
dwellings  as  might  be  wanted  for  the  public  service,  "paying 
to  the  owners  of  those  secured  by  the  capitulation,  a  reason 
able  rent  for  the  same "  ;  by  wrhich  course  the  Loyalists 
would  be  "  in  possession  of  their  own  houses  within  a  short 
space  of  time."  He  was  also  a  British  Deputy  Commissary 
of  Prisoners.  It  is  stated  on  the  best  authority,  that,  having 
harangued  the  unfortunate  Whigs  under  his  care,  to  induce 
them  to  enlist  in  the  Royal  service,  without  the  anticipated 
success,  he  pronounced  this  terrible  sentence :  "  You  shall  be 
put  on  board  of  the  prison-ships,  where  you  cannot  expect 
anything  more  but  to  perish  miserably  ;  the  rations  hitherto 
allowed  for  the  support  of  your  wives  and  children,  from  this 
day,  shall  be  withheld  ;  the  consequence  of  which  will  be, 
they  must  starve  in  the  streets."  He  lost  his  estate  under  the 
Confiscation  Act  of  1782.  A  Doctor  James  Frazer  died  at 
Charleston  in  1803,  —  possibly  the  same. 

FRAZER,  JOHN.     Of  New  York.     Was  born  in  Scotland, 
emigrated  to  New  York  some  years  prior  to  the  Revolution, 


FRAZER.  -  FRENCH.  447 

went  to  Nova  Scotia  at  the  peace,  and  died  at  Shelburne  in 
1840,  aged  eighty-eight. 

FRAZER,  LEWIS.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1783,  and 
died  in  King's  County  in  1885,  aged  seventy-two  ;  Mary 
Harkley  Frazer,  his  widow,  who  was  horn  in  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  1836,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-three. 

FRENCH,  THOMAS.  Of  New  York,  and  probahly  of  Long 
Island.  Captain  in  De  Lancey's  First  Battalion. 

The  following  marvellous  incident  seems  to  rest  on   o-ood 

o  o 

authority: — In  1779,  when  Colonel  Cruger  was  ordered  to 
evacuate  Sunbury,  French  was  directed  to  convey  the  inva 
lids  to  Savannah  by  inland  navigation,  in  small  vessels.  On 
the  passage,  circumstances  compelled  him  to  land,  and  to 
fortify  his  camp,  in  front  of  which  he  placed  four  vessels, 
manned  by  forty  seamen.  His  soldiers  were  one  hundred 
and  eleven  in  number  ;  and  he  had  one  hundred  and  thirty 
stand  of  arms.  Colonel  White,  of  Georgia,  determined  to 
capture  him  by  stratagem  ;  and,  to  effect  his  purpose,  kindled 
fires  on  shore  in  the  manner  of  a  camp,  rode  about  giving 
orders  in  a  tone  of  voice  to  be  heard  by  French,  and  then 
went  to  him  with  a  flag,  and  demanded  him  to  surrender. 
White's  party  consisted  of  six  persons;  but  French,  believing 
that  he  led  a  large  force,  submitted  himself  prisoner  of  war, 
with  his  whole  detachment,  one  hundred  and  thirty  stand  of 
arms,  the  vessels,  and  their  crews.  Four  of  the  vessels  were 
armed,  and  the  largest  mounted  fourteen  guns.  After  the  ar 
ticles  of  capitulation  were  signed,  White  pretended  that  it  was 
difficult  to  restrain  his  men  ;  and,  to  continue  the  deception, 
ordered  his  captives  to  go  on  shore  unarmed,  and  to  follow  the 
guides,  whom  he  would  send  to  them,  and  by  whom  they  would 
be  conducted  to  Lincoln's  army ;  while  he,  with  his  troops, 
would  follow  in  their  rear.  Most  of  French's  men  were 
Loyalists,  and,  dreading  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Whig 
militia,  this  plan  was  gladly  adopted.  The  prisoners  ar 
rived  safely  in  camp. 

FRENCH,    JOSEPH.      Of  Jamaica,    New    York.      He    was 


448  FRENCH.  —  FREY. 

elected  to  the  Provincial  Congress  in  1775,  but  declined  to 
take  his  seat  on  the  ground  that  the  majority  of  the  free 
holders  of  that  town  were  opposed  to  being  represented  in 
that  body.  In  February,  1776,  he  was  a  close  prisoner  ;  and 
in  a  communication  to  the  Provincial  Congress,  stating  his 
case  and  praying  to  be  released,  he  remarked  that  he  had 
been  in  confinement  thirty-four  days,  —  three  days  in  his  own 
house,  with  twelve  men  and  an  officer  to  guard  him  when 
sick  in  bed.  In  1777  Jamaica  contributed  ,£219  to  a  corps  of 
Loyalists  raised  in  New  York  at  the  instance  of  Governor 
Tryon,  which  sum  passed  through  the  hands  of  Mr.  French. 
In  1780  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Governor  Robertson. 

FRENCH,  JAMES.  Of  New  York.  He  accepted  a  com 
mission  in  De  Lancey's  First  Battalion,  and  in  1782  was  a 
captain.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1783, 
was  the  grantee  of  a  city  lot,  and  received  half-pay.  He 
settled  in  the  county  of  York,  and  was  a  magistrate  for  several 
years.  He  died  in  that  county  in  1820,  aged  seventy-five. 

FRENCH, .  A  Loyalist  in  arms,  and  of  some  note. 

He  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Bennington. 

FREY,  HENDRICK.  Of  New  York.  He  served  the  Crown 
during  the  war,  and  was  a  major.  After  the  peace  he  re 
turned  to  his  native  State.  In  1797  he  and  Brant  met  at 
Canajoharie,  where,  at  a  tavern,  u  they  had  a  merry  time  of 
it  during  the  livelong  night.  Many  of  their  adventures 
were  recounted,  among  which  was  a  duel  that  had  been 
fought  by  Frey,  to  whom  Brant  acted  as  second.''  The 
meeting  of  the  Chief  and  the  Major  is  described  as  "  like 
that  of  two  brothers." 

FREY,  PHILIP  R.  Of  Tryon  (now  Montgomery)  County, 
New  York.  He  entered  the  military  service  of  the  King,  and 
was  an  ensign  in  the  Eighth  Regiment.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  battle  of  Wyoming.  He  died  at  Palestine,  Mont 
gomery  (formerly  Tryon)  County,  in  1823.  His  son,  Samuel 
C.  Frey,  settled  in  Upper  Canada,  and  communicated  partic 
ulars  of  the  sanguinary  scenes  at  Wyoming,  for  Colonel 
Stone's  use,  in  writing  his  "  Life  of  Brant."  The  testimony 


FRINK.  -  FRYE.  449 

of  the  Freys  is,  that  Brant  was  not  present  with  Butler  at 
Wyoming,  and  this,  according  to  the  son,  the  father  steadily 
maintained  through  life. 

iT} 

FRINK,  NATHAN.  He  was  born  at  Pomfret,  Connecticut. 
He  entered  the  British  military  service,  and  was  a  captain  of 
cavalry  in  the  American  Legion,  and  aide-de-camp  to  Arnold 
after  his  treason,  and  was  engaged  in  the  burning  of  Ne\v 
London.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
where  he  remained  several  years,  but  removed  to  St.  Andrew, 
and  finally  to  St.  Stephen  in  the  same  Colony.  Pie  died  at 
the  latter  place,  December  4,  1817,  aged  sixty  years.  His 
wife,  Hester,  died  at  St.  Stephen,  February  22,  1824,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-five.  His  sister  Alida  married  Schuyler,  the 
oldest  son  of  General  Israel  Putnam.  Seven  children  sur 
vived  him.  His  son  James  was  a  magistrate  and  ship-owner 
of  St.  Stephen,  and  married  Martha  G.  Prescott,  a  niece  of 
Roger  Sherman.  Captain  Frink  was  educated  for  the  bar. 
In  New  Brunswick  he  was  a  merchant  and  ship-owner ;  and 
a  magistrate  of  Charlotte  County  for  about  thirty  years.  He 
received  half-pay  as  an  officer.  His  family  connections  in 
the  United  States  are  highly  respectable.  It  is  believed  that 
his  political  sympathies  were  originally  adverse  to  the  Royal 
cause,  and  that  less  intolerance,  on  the  part  of  his  Whig 
neighbors  and  friends,  would  have  produced  a  different  line 
of  conduct  on  his  part. 

FHYE,  PETER.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1744.  He  was  representative  to  the 
General  Court,  and  being  a  member  in  1768,  was  a  Re- 
scinder.  He  was  also  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  Register  of  Probate,  and  Colonel  of  Militia  in  the 
County  of  Essex.  His  name  appears  among  the  Salem  Ad 
dressers  of  Gage,  June,  1774.  He  died  in  England,  Feb 
ruary,  1820,  aged  ninety-seven  years.  The  first  husband  of 
his  daughter  Love  was  Doctor  Peter  Oliver,  a  Massachusetts 
Loyalist ;  and  her  second  was  Admiral  Sir  John  Knight  of 
the  British  Navy.  Lady  Knight  died  at  her  seat  near  London, 
in  1839. 

38* 


450  FRYE.  -  GAGE. 

FRYE,  PETER  PICKMAN.  A  soldier  in  the  Continental 
Army.  In  May,  1777,  he  was  sentenced  to  be  shot  at  New 
York,  for  desertion,  with  the  design  of  joining  the  Royal 
Army. 

FULTON,  JAMES.  Of  New  Hampshire.  In  1778  lie  was 
proscribed  and  banished.  In  1782  he  was  a  captain  in  the 
King's  American  Dragoons.  James  Fulton,  Esq.,  a  magis 
trate  in  the  county  of  Halifax,  died  in  Nova  Scotia  in  1826. 

FUSTNER,  ANDREW  GEORGE.  In  November,  1788,  Wash 
ington  wrote  the  President  of  the  Council  of  Pennsylvania, 
that  Fnstncr  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Rankin  of  York 
County;  that  he  went  out  of  New  York  frequently  as  a  spy, 
by  way  of  Stark  River,  through  New  Jersey,  and  thence  to 
Lancaster ;  from  which  facts,  means  might  be  devised,  per 
haps,  to  apprehend  him. 

GABEL,  JOHN.  Was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Loyalists  who 
settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1810,  aged 
eighty-four. 

GAGE,  THOMAS.  The  first  military  and  the  last  Royal 
Governor  of  Massachusetts.  His  father  was  the  first  Viscount 
Gage.  He  came  to  America  with  Braddock,  in  command  of 
the  44th  Regiment,  and  was  wounded  in  the  fatal  eno;ao;ement 

O  O     O 

of  the  9th  of  July.  It  is  said  that  his  indecision  was  the 
cause  of  the  defeat.  He  was  with  Amherst  in  the  expedition 
against  Ticonderoga,  and  with  Wolfe  at  Quebec.  In  1761 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major-General,  and,  two 
years  later,  was  made  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  British 
forces  in  North  America.  In  1770  he  was  a  Lieutenant- Gen 
eral.  His  home  was  in  New  York,  and  he  lived  in  a  large 
double  house,  surrounded  with  elegant  gardens,  on  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  stores  67  and  69  Broad  Street.  In  1774 
he  removed  to  Boston,  and  assumed  the  administration  of  civil 
and  military  affairs  in  Massachusetts.  Sir  William  Howe 
was  his  successor  in  command  of  the  army.  His  wife  was 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Peter  Kemble,  President  of  the  Coun 
cil  of  New  Jersey.  He  died  in  England,  in  1787  ;  his  widow 
survived  until  1824,  and  at  her  decease  was  ninety  years  of 
age.  His  son  was  the  third  Viscount  Gage. 


GAINE.  451 

In  1848,  General  William  II.  Sunnier,  who  died  at  Jamaica 
Plain,  Massachusetts,  October,  1801,  married  Mary  Dickin 
son  Kemble,  of  New  York,  daughter  of  Peter  Kemble,  grand 
daughter  of  General  Cadwallader,  and  niece  of  the  subject  of 
this  notice.  This  lady  survives,  but  has  no  child.  A  Resolve 
of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  in  1862,  requested  the 
Governor  to  receive  the  portrait  of  Governor  Gage,  bequeathed 
by  General  Sumner,  and  cause  the  same  to  be  placed  in  the 
State  Library. 

GAINE,  HUGH.  Printer  and  bookseller,  of  New  York  ; 
and  publisher  of  the  "  New  York  Mercury."  Died  April  25, 
180T,  aged  eighty-one  years.  His  political  creed  seems  to 
have  consisted  of  but  one  article,  and  that  —  to  kwp  with  the 
strongest  party.  At  first  he  was  a  Whig,  and  when,  in  1776, 
the  British  troops  were  about  to  take  possession  of  New  York, 
he  retreated  with  his  press  to  Newark  ;  but,  in  the  belief  that 
the  Whigs  would  be  subdued  and  the  Revolution  suppressed, 
he  soon  after  privately  withdrew  from  Newark,  and  returned 
to  New  York,  where  he  printed  under  the  protection  of  the 
King's  Army,  and  devoted  the  "  Mercury "  to  the  support 
of  the  Royal  cause.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  he  peti 
tioned  the  Legislature  of  the  State  for  liberty  to  remain  in  the 
city,  which  was  granted  ;  but  he  discontinued  the  publication 
of  his  paper,  and  turned  his  attention  to  the  printing  and  sell 
ing  of  books.  He  occupied  a  stand  in  Hanover  Square  more 
than  forty  years,  and  by  close  application  to  business,  regu 
larity  and  punctuality,  he  acquired  a  handsome  estate.  As  a 
citizen,  he  was  moral  and  highly  respectable.  As  a  politician, 
his  unstable  course  excited  several  poetical  essays  from  a  wit 
of  the  time  ;  among  them  is  a  versification  of  his  petition  to 
the  new  Government,  already  alluded  to,  of  some  three  hun 
dred  and  fifty  lines.  The  writer's  manner  may  be  judged  of 
by  the  following  extract.  After  relating  the  evils  of  his  so 
journ  at  Newark,  Gaine  is  made  to  speak  thus  of  his  return  to 
Newr  York,  and  taking  part  witli  the  Loyalists:  — 

"  As  matters  have  gone,  it  was  plainly  a  blunder, 
But  then  I  expected  the  Whigs  must  knock  under, 


452  GALE. 

And  I  always  adhere  to  the  sword  that  is  longest, 

And  stick  to  the  party  that 's  like  to  be  strongest ; 

That  you  have  succeeded  is  merely  a  chance  ; 

I  never  once  dreamt  of  the  conduct  of  France  !  — 

If  alliance  with  her  you  were  promised  —  at  least 

You  ought  to  have  showed  me  your  star  in  the  East, 

Not  let  me  go  off  uninformed  as  a  beast. 

When  your  army  I  saw  without  stockings  or  shoes, 

Or  victuals  or  money  —  to  pay  them  their  dues, 

Excepting  your  wretched  Congressional  paper, 

That  stunk  in  my  nose  like  the  snuff  of  a  taper,"  &c. 

GALE,  SAMUEL.  Of  Cumberland  County,  New  Hamp 
shire  Grants.  He  was  born  in  England,  in  1747,  and  was 
Avell  educated.  He  came  to  America  about  the  year  1770, 
as  a  paymaster  in  the  British  Army ;  but,  quitting  the  service, 
settled  in  the  county  above  mentioned.  In  1774  the  infamous 
Crean  Brush  resigned  as  clerk  of  the  Court,  and  he  was  ap 
pointed  to  the  place.  During  the  difficulties  between  the 
Whigs  and  Loyalists  of  Cumberland  in  1775,  —  as  partic 
ularly  related  in  the  notice  of  W.  Patterson,  —  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  conducted  with  wisdom  or  decorum.  Accord 
ing  to  the  account  of  the  affair  drawn  up  by  the  Whig  Com 
mittee,  he  drew  a  pistol  upon  the  multitude,  who  asked  for  a 

parley,  and  exclaimed,  4i  d — n  the  parley  with  such  d d 

rascals  as  you  are  ;  "  and  holding  up  his  weapon,  added,  "  1 

will   hold   no  parley   with   such   d d   rascals,   but    this." 

Collision  soon  followed,  and  human  life  was  taken.  An  in 
vestigation  followed.  He  was  imprisoned  first  in  his  o\vn 
town,  and  next  in  Northampton,  Massachusetts.  Released  at 
last,  he  repaired  to  New  York,  where  he  was  joined  by  his 
family.  In  1776  he  was  again  seized  and  sent  to  jail  in  Fair- 
field,  Connecticut,  and  while  there  wrote  a  long  letter  to  John 
McKisson,  in  which  he  complains  of  the  manner  of  his  ar 
rest  and  of  his  subsequent  treatment.  I  extract  a  single  pas 
sage.  "  In  this  intolerable  place,"  he  said,  "  the  wind,  when 
cold,  fairly  chills  every  vein  in  my  body.  The  smoke,  when 
there  is  a  fire,  not  only  blinds,  but  nearly  suffocates  me  ;  and 
the  continued  smell  of  the  room  has,  I  fear,  tended  to  rot  mv 


GALLOWAY.  458 

very  vitals.  In  the  morning  I  have  perpetually  a  sickness  at 
the  stomach ;  about  noon  comes  on  a  fever,  which,  in  about 
three  hours,  is  succeeded  by  an  ague."  Again,  he  said  he 
wished  for  liberty  on  parole,  that  "  I  may  finish  my  intended 
publication  on  Surveying,  which,  yon  will  know,  is  allowed 
by  all  parties  to  be  a  matter  of  great  actual  service  to  Amer 
ica."  He  went  to  Canada  before  the  peace,  and  became  Pro 
vincial  Secretary,  He  accompanied  Governor  Prescott  to 
England,  to  assist  in  adjusting  some  difficulties  that  had  oc 
curred  during  his  administration  ;  and  while  abroad,  he  wrote 
and  published  an  "  Essay  on  Public  Credit,"  which  Mr.  Pitt 
is  said  to  have  approved.  Mr.  Gale  returned  to  Canada  after 
several  years'  absence  ;  lived  in  retirement,  and  died  in  Farn- 
ham,  in  182(5.  His  wife  was  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Samuel  Wells,  of  Brattleborough. 

GALLOWAY,  JOSEPH.  He  was  a  son  of  Peter  Galloway, 
and  was  born  in  Maryland  about  the  year  1730.  His  family 
was  respectable,  and  of  good  estate,  and  his  education  was 
probably  the  best  that  could  be  obtained  in  the  Middle  Col 
onies.  He  went  early  in  life  to  Philadelphia,  commenced  the 
practice  of  the  law,  became  eminent  in  his  profession,  and 
held  many  important  trusts.  He  married  the  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  Lawrence  Growdon,  who  was  for  a  long  period  Speaker 
of  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  by  which  connection  he 
enjoyed  a  considerable  fortune.  In  1764  Mr.  Galloway  was 
a  member  of  the  Assembly,  and  on  the  question  of  a  change 
of  the  government  from  the  Proprietary  to  the  Royal  form, 
as  in  some  other  Colonies,  made  an  able  speech  in  answer  to 
the  celebrated  Dickinson,  who  opposed  the  petition.  Both 
speeches  were  published.  Galloway  continued  in  the  Assem 
bly  for  some  years,  and  attained  the  Speaker's  chair  of  that 
body.  In  1774  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Whig  Con 
gress  of  the  Continent,  and  took  his  seat,  and  was  an  active 
participant  in  its  leading  recommendations  and  measures.  On 
the  20th  of  October,  Congress  adopted  the  celebrated  measure 
of  "Non-Importation,  Non-Consumption,  and  Non-Exporta 
tion,"  and  ordered  that  the  several  members  subscribe  their 


454  GALLOWAY. 

names  to  it.  The  signature  of  Mr.  Galloway  is  among  them  ; 
and  his  name  is  to  be  found,  also,  to  the  "  Address  to  the  In 
habitants  of  the  Province  of  Quebec."  Near  the  close  of  the 
session  he  was  appointed,  with  Mr.  Adams  and  others,  to 
revise  the  minutes  of  Congress. 

No  man  in  Pennsylvania,  at  this  time,  was  more  in  favor 
with  the  popular  party.  In  the  attack  upon  the  proprietary 
rights,  he  had  been  regarded  the  leader  ;  and  with  Franklin,1 
he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  and  confidence.  His  disaffection 
or  disinclination  to  continue  in  the  public  councils  soon  be 
came  manifest.  By  the  proceedings  of  the  House  of  Assembly 
of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  12th  of  May,  1775,  it  appears,  that 
"  Joseph  Galloway,  Esq.,  having  repeatedly  moved  in  Assem 
bly  to  be  excused  from  serving  as  a  Deputy  in  the  Continen 
tal  Congress,  the  House  this  day  took  his  motion  in  considera 
tion,  and  do  hereby  agree  to  excuse  him  from  that  service." 
In  1776  he  abandoned  the  Whigs,  and  became  one  of  the 
most  virulent  and  proscriptive  Loyalists  of  the  time.  His 
former  friends  often  felt  the  force  of  his  powers,  and  the  evil 
effects  of  his  influence  with  the  agents  of  the  Crown,  both  in 
America  and  England.  He  joined  the  Royal  Army  in  New 
York  soon  after  his  defection,  and  continued  there  until  June 
of  1778.  As  he  prepared  to  embark  for  England,  with  his 
only  daughter,  he  wrote  his  "  ever  dear  and  only  sister,"  a 
parting  letter,  which  is  very  affectionate  in  its  tone,  and  in 
which  he  said  :  "  I  call  this  country  ungrateful,  because  I 
have  attempted  to  save  it  from  the  distress  it  at  present  feels, 
and  because  it  has  not  only  rejected  my  endeavors,  but  re 
turned  me  evil  for  good.  I  feel  for  its  misery  ;  but  I  feel  it 
is  not  finished  —  its  cup  is  not  yet  full  —  still  deeper  distress 
will  attend  it." 

He  was  examined  before  Parliament,  in  1779,  on  the  in 
quiry  into  the  conduct  of  Sir  William  Howe  and  General 
Burgoyne,  and  gave  some  very  singular  opinions.  Thus,  he 
said  that  four  fifths  of  the  whole  American  people,  at  the  be- 

1  A  will,  executed  by  Franklin,  some  years  prior  to  1781,  was  left  in 
his  care. 


GALLOWAY.  455 

ginning  of  hostilities,  were  loyal  or  well  affected  to  the  Crown  ; 
that  if  proper  use  had  been  made  of  men  and  means,  the  re 
bellion  might  have  been  speedily  and  happily  terminated  ;  that 
in  a  military  sense,  America  was  not  particularly  strong  :  that 
the  British  troops  were  superior  to  their  opponents,  not  in  the 
open  field,  but  in  bush  fighting  ;  and  that  such  was  the  nature 
of  the  country,  soldiers  could  carry  provisions  for  nineteen 
days,  on  their  backs.  To  all  this,  it  was  well  replied,  that 
though  bred  a  lawyer,  and  used  to  business,  he  could  be  hard 
ly  made  to  recollect  anything  which  related  to  himself  when 
a  Whig  and  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  ;  yet,  that 
merely  with  the  British  Army  for  protection,  and  utterly  ig 
norant  of  the  profession  of  arms,  he  presumed  to  possess  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  complicated  business  of  the  camp  ; 
and  to  decide,  in  a  manner  which  old  and  experienced  com 
manders  hesitated  to  do,  upon  all  the  great  operations  of  war. 
Between  this  time  and  the  peace,  his  pen  was  almost  constant 
ly  employed  on  subjects  connected  with  the  war,  and  its  man 
agement  on  the  part  of  officers  of  the  Crown.  In  addition  to 
an  extensive  correspondence  with  Loyalists  who  continued  in 
America,  he  published  "  Observations  on  the  Conduct  of  Sir 
William  Howe  ;  a  "  Letter  to  Howe  on  his  Naval  Con 
duct  "  ;  "  Letters  to  a  Nobleman  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War 
in  the  Middle  Colonies  "  ;  "  Reply  to  the  Observations  of  Gen 
eral  Howe  "  ;  "  Cool  Thoughts  on  the  Consequences  of  Amer 
ican  Independence  "  ;  "  Candid  Examination  of  the  Claims  of 
Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies  "  ;  and  "  Reflections  on  the 
American  Rebellion." 

His  estate,  which  he  valued  at  £40,000,  was  confiscated  by 
Pennsylvania,  in  pursuance  of  his  proscription  and  attainder. 
A  large  part  of  his  property  was  derived  from  his  wife,  and  a 
considerable  proportion  of  it  was  restored  finally  to  his  daugh 
ter.  When  the  agency  for  prosecuting  the  claims  of  the 
Loyalists  to  compensation  was  formed,  Mr.  Galloway  was  ap 
pointed  a  member  of  the  Board  for  Pennsylvania  and  Dela 
ware.  But  his  own  pretensions  to  consideration  were  disputed. 
The  circumstance,  that  he  had  been  a  Whig  and  a  member  of 


456  GALLOWAY. 

the  first  Continental  Congress,  occasioned  a  jealousy  among 
the  adherents  of  the  Crown,  who  had  never  changed  sides, 
and  the  Commissioners  made  a  minute  investigation  into  his 
conduct.  They  examined  numerous  witnesses,  among  whom 
were  General  Gage,  Lord  Cornwallis,  and  Sir  William  Howe  ; 
and  they  found  and  reported  him  to  be  "  an  active  though  not 
an  early  Loyalist,"  and  of  course  entitled  to  compensation. 
A  tract  attributed  to  him,  on  the  subject  of  "  The  Loyalist 
Claims  for  Losses,"  was  published  in  1788  ;  from  which,  as  the 
reader  will  remember,  some  extracts  appear  in  the  preliminary 
remarks  of  this  volume.  He  died  in  England,  September, 
1803,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three  years. 

His  path  was  filled  with  vexations  and  troubles.  He  was  a 
politician  by  nature  ;  and  he  had  many  qualities  indispensable 
to  success  in  political  life.  For  some  years  prior  to  the  Revo 
lution,  he  was  the  secret  or  open  mover  of  many  of  the  public 
issues  that  arose.  In  the  alienation  of  friends  he  was  unfor 
tunate.  In  176G  he  connected  himself  with  Goddard  and 
Wharton,  in  publishing  a  newspaper  called  the  "  Pennsyl 
vania  Chronicle."  By  the  terms  of  the  arrangement,  he  and 
Wharton  were  to  furnish  a  share  of  the  necessary  capital, 
and  Goddard  was  to  print  and  manage  the  concern.  And  it 
is  a  singular  fact  connected  with  this  matter,  that  the  articles 
of  copartnership  provided  for  the  admission  of  Franklin  as  a 
partner,  should  he  choose  to  join  them  on  his  coming  home 
from  England,  where  he  was  then  absent.  But  the  philoso 
pher  never  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  ;  the  three  part 
ners  quarrelled,  separated  on  the  worst  possible  terms,  and 
Goddard  and  Galloway  filled  the  public  prints  with  the  vilest 
mutual  abuse.  The  difficulty  reached  the  ears  of  Franklin, 
and  he  thus  wrote  to  his  son  William  from  London  :  "  I  cast 
my  eye  over  Goddard's  piece  against  our  friend,  Mr.  Gallo 
way,  and  then  lit  my  fire  with  it.  I  think  such  feeble,  mali 
cious  attacks  cannot  hurt  him."  The  events  of  a  few  years 
produced  strange  changes  in  the  relations  of  the  several  par 
ties  here  spoken  of,  and  show  the  effects  of  civil  war  in  a  most 
striking  manner.  Galloway,  as  has  been  said,  turned  Loyal- 


GALLOWAY.  457 

ist,  and  Franklin  renounced  him;  while  Goddard,  who  made 
the  "  feehle  and  malicious  attacks,"  was  appointed  to  the  sec 
ond  office  in  the  Continental  Post-office  Department,  when 
Franklin  was  placed  at  its  head.  While,  ao;ain,  Goddard, 
soured  and  disaffected,  on  the  retirement  of  Franklin  from 
that  service,  because  he  was  not  named  to  succeed  him,  in 
curred  the  displeasure  of  the  Whigs,  and  was  the  object  of 
hate,  and  the  victim  of  mobs.  And  yet  again  ;  Franklin's 
only  son,  the  Royal  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  also  became  a 
Loyalist ;  which  entirely  alienated  his  father,  so  that  there 
was  no  intercourse  between  them  for  ten  years. 

Galloway,  after  deserting  the  Whigs,  was  the  mark  at  which 
many  writers  levelled  their  wit  and  their  anger.  Trumbull 
says  of  him,  that  "  he  began  by  being  a  flaming  patriot,  but 
being  disgusted  at  his  own  want  of  influence  and  the  greater 
popularity  of  others,  he  turned  Tory,  wrote  against  the  meas 
ures  of  Congress,  and  absconded;  "  and,  that  "just  before  his 
escape,  a  trunk  was  put  on  board  a  vessel  in  the  Delaware,  to 
be  delivered  to  "  him,  which,  on  opening,  u  he  found  contained 
only,  as  Shakspeare  says, 

'  A  halter  gratis,  and  leave  to  hang  himself.' " 

Trumbull,  in  his  "  McFingal,"  still  further  discourses  thus : 

"  Did  you  not,  in  as  vile  and  shallow  way, 
Fright  our  poor  Philadelphian,  Galloway, 
Your  Congress  when  the  loyal  ribald 
Belied,  berated,  and  bescribbled  ? 
What  ropes  and  halters  did  you  send, 
Terrific  emblems  of  his  end, 
Till,  lest  he  'd  hang  in  more  than  effigy, 
Fled  in  a  fog  the  trembling  refugee  V  " 

The  unhappy  Loyalist  deserved  all  that  was  said  of  him  ; 
since  it  seems  improbable  that  he  changed  sides  from  convic 
tion  and  from  justifiable  motives.  A  man  of  so  great  aptitude 
for  the  administration  of  affairs,  of  so  mature  judgment,  of  so 
much  political  experience,  of  so  penetrating  sagacity,  of  powers 
of  mind  that  led  his  fellows  in  masses,  can  hardly  stand  excused, 
upon  the  most  charitable  view  of  his  conduct  that  is  possible. 

VOL.  i.  39 


458  GALLOWAY.  -  GARDEN. 

GALLOWAY,  -  — .  Serjeant  in  the  Queen's  Rangers. 
Unhorsed  and  wounded  in  battle.  He  lamented  the  loss  of 
the  heel  of  his  boot,  which  was  shot  away,  says  his  com 
mander,  more  than  his  wound. 

GALLOPP,  WILLIAM.  He  settled  in  Charlotte  County,  New 
Brunswick,  and  was  a  magistrate.  He  died  in  that  county 
about  the  year  1800. 

GAMBLE,  JAMES.  Of  North  Carolina.  Estate  confiscated. 
Residence  unknown. 

GAMBLE,  DAVID.  Belonged  to  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania 
Regiment,  but  deserted.  In  1778  he  was  tried  for  this  of 
fence,  and  for  having  in  his  possession  counterfeit  Continental 
money  ;  and  was  sentenced  to  suffer  death. 

GANEY,  MICAJAII.  Of  South  Carolina.  He  lived  on  the 
Little  Pedee ;  and  at  the  head  of  some  Loyalists  of  that 
region,  sallied  out  of  swamps  to  distress  the  Whigs.  Marion 
had  required  that  he  should  obey  his  orders  as  brigadier  of 
the  district,  but  he  refused.  Yet,  in  1781,  when  the  Royal 
Army  met  with  reverses,  Ganey  entered  into  a  treaty  of 
neutrality,  which  was  renewed  the  year  following.  By  the 
terms  of  the  last  arrangement,  the  Tory  band  were  forgiven 
treason,  secured  in  the  possession  of  their  property,  and 
placed  under  the  protection  of  the  laws,  on  the  condition  of 
delivering  up  their  plunder,  and  demeaning  themselves  as 
peaceable  citizens  of  South  Carolina  ;  while  those  who  pre 
ferred  to  leave  the  country,  were  permitted  to  go  within  the 
British  lines,  and  to  carry  off  or  sell  their  effects.  He  was 
considered  an  excellent  partisan  officer,  and,  in  the  judgment 
of  some,  able  to  cope  with  Marion  himself. 

GARDEN,  ALEXANDER.  Of  South  Carolina.  A  Congrat- 
ulator  of  Cornwallis  on  his  success  at  Cainden  in  1780.  In 
1782  his  estate  was  confiscated,  and  he  was  banished.  Doctor 
Garden  fitted  himself  for  professional  pursuits  at  Edinburgh. 
He  acquired  a  fortune.  He  was  much  devoted  to  the  study 
of  natural  history,  and  was  a  valuable  writer  in  that  branch 
of  science,  especially  in  botany.  He  went  to  England  in 
1783,  and  died  in  London  in  1791,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three 


HARDEN.  —  GARDINER.  459 

years.  He  was  doctor  of  medicine  and  of  divinity,  and  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society. 

GARDEN,  WILLIAM.  He  received  employment  under  the 
Crown,  after  the  Revolution  ;  and  at  the  time  of  his  decease 
was  Assistant  Deputy  Commissary-General  of  the  garrison  at 
Fredericton,  New  Brunswick.  He  sank  under  the  pressure 
of  sickness  and  trouble ;  and  closed  his  life  in  the  county  of 
York,  New  Brunswick,  in  1812,  aged  sixty-three.  His 
daughter  Jane,  wife  of  William  Thompson,  of  Toronto, 
Upper  Canada,  died  at  Woodstock,  New  Brunswick,  in  18-48, 
in  her  sixty-second  year. 

GAKDIXKR,  SYLYKSTEH.  Of  Boston.  Physician.  De 
scended  from  the  first  emigrant  of  the  name  to  the  Narra- 
gansett  country  ;  and  born  at  South  Kingston,  Rhode  Island, 
in  1707.  He  fitted  himself  for  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
England  and  France  ;  entered  upon  and  pursued  a  successful 
professional  career  in  Boston.  He  acquired  great  wealth,  and 
became  proprietor  of  one  twelfth  part  of  the  "  Plymouth 
Purchase,"  so  called,  on  the  Kennebec  River,  Maine..  His 
efforts  to  settle  this  large  domain  were  unceasing  from  the 
year  1753  to  the  Revolution.  He  was  made  perpetual  mod 
erator  of  the  proprietors  at  all  their  meetings  ;  he  executed 
their  plans;  built  mills,  houses,  stores,  and  wharves;  cleared 
lands  ;  made  generous  offers  to  emigrants ;  established  an 
Episcopal  mission  ;  and  furnished  the  people  of  that  region 
with  their  first  religious  instruction.  And  most  of  all  this 
was  accomplished  with  his  own  money.  The  evidence  uni 
formly  is,  that  he  was  a  man  of  broad  and  liberal  views,  of 
great  zeal,  energy,  and  public  spirit,  In  Boston  he  was  held 
in  much  respect  by  all  classes.  Of  the  "  Government  Party," 
he  entertained  as  guests,  Sir  William  Pepperell,  Governor 
Hutchinson,  Earl  Percy,  Admiral  Graves,  Major  Pitcairn, 
General  Gage,  Major  Small,  and  others.  An  Addresser  of 
the  Royal  Governors  in  1774  and  the  year  following,  he 
became  identified  with  the  Royal  cause.  But,  hard  upon 
threescore  and  ten,  he  did  not  mean  to  quit  his  native 
country.  He  yielded  to  the  counsels,  to  the  u  impetuosity  " 


460  GARDINER. 

of  a  young  wife,  and  was  ruined.  In  1776,  at  the  evacua 
tion,  lie  abandoned  all,  and  found  temporary  shelter  at  Hali 
fax.  The  vessel  in  which  he  embarked  was  destitute  of  com 
mon  comforts,  poorly  supplied  with  provisions,  and  the  cabin, 
which  he  and  several  members  of  his  family  occupied,  was 
small  and  crowded  with  passengers.  In  1778  his  name  ap 
peared  in  the  Proscription  and  Banishment  Act.  He  settled 
at  Poole,  England. 

In  addition  to  his  lands  in  Maine,  he  had  a  large  property 
in  Boston,  both  real  and  personal,  most  of  which  was  con 
fiscated. 

In  1785  he  returned  to  the  United  States.  For  a  part  of 
his  losses,  he  petitioned  Massachusetts  for  compensation.  He 
had  never  borne  arms,  he  said,  nor  entered  into  any  associa 
tion,  combination,  or  subscription,  against  the  Whigs.  When 
he  quitted  Boston,  he  stated,  too,  that  he  had  in  possession  a 
valuable  stock  of  drugs,  medicines,  paints,  groceries,  and  dye 
stuffs,  which,  having  a  vessel  fully  equipped  and  entirely 
under  his  control,  he  could  easily  have  carried  off,  but  which 
he  left,  of  choice,  for  the  benefit  of  the  country,  which  he 
knew  was  in  need.  The  claim  was  acknowledged  to  the 
extent  of  giving  his  heirs  tickets  in  the  State  Land  Lottery, 
by  which  they  obtained  nearly  six  thousand  acres  in  the 

J  V  V 

county  of  Washington,  Maine. 

From  the  confiscation,  Massachusetts  derived,  indeed,  but 
little  benefit.  As  relates  to  the  property  just  mentioned, 
Washington,  on  taking  possession  of  Boston,  ordered  the 
medicines,  &c.,  in  Doctor  Gardiner's  store  to  be  transferred 
to  the  hospital  department  for  the  use  of  the  Continental 
Army ;  but  the  State  authorities  interfered,  and  required 
delivery  to  the  Sheriff  of  Suffolk  County.  The  result,  how 
ever,  was  a  vote  of  the  Council  complying  with  the  requisition 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief.  The  Commonwealth  received 
nothing  from  the  lands  on  the  Kennebec,  because  the  Attor 
ney-General  found  his  suit  illegally  prosecuted,  and  because 
peace  was  concluded  while  his  second  action  was  pending. 
As  concerns  the  remaining  part  of  Dr.  Gardiner's  estate, 


GARDINER.  401 

there  is  a  strange  story,  namely :  that  it  was  nearly  all 
absorbed  in  the  payment  of  fictitious  claims  against  him, 
which  there  was  no  one  here  to  dispute.  A  gentleman  of 
the  highest  respectability  informs  me  that  he  was  once  walk 
ing  with  the  Doctor's  executor,  when  they  were  met  by  a 
man  who  had  been  allowed  payment  of  an  unjust  demand, 
and  who  was  asked  by  the  executor,  "  How  could  you 
bring  such  a  charge?"  "  La,  Mr.  Hallowell,"  was  the  reply, 
"  I  would  not  injure  you  for  the  world.  The  account  was 
correct :  1  only  omitted  to  say  it  was  paid;  it  was  dointj  you  no 
Ju.tnn  ;  everybody  watt  doing  the  same- ;  and  I  was  in  want  of 
the  money.'1'  The  subject  of  this  notice  died  at  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  suddenly,  August  8,  1786,  in  his  eightieth 
year,  and  his  remains  were  interred  under  Trinity  Church. 
In  the  Episcopal  Church,  Gardiner,  Maine,  there  is  a  marble 
cenotaph  to  his  memory.  His  first  wife  was  Anne,  daughter 
of  Doctor  John  Gibbons  of  Boston  ;  his  second,  Abigail 
Eppes  of  Virginia  ;  his  third,  Catharine  Goldthwaite.  His 
children  were  six.  First,  John,  born  in  Boston  in  17ol  ; 
bred  to  the  law  in  England  ;  practised  in  the  Courts  of  West 
minster  Hall ;  Attorney-General  of  St.  Christopher's  ;  denied 
promotion  by  the  British  Government,  because  of  his  sym 
pathy  for  the  Whigs ;  returned  to  Massachusetts  at  the  peace ; 
one  of  the  leaders  in  the  movement  which  transferred  King's 
Chapel  to  the  Unitarians  ;  settled  in  P o wn alb o rough,  Maine, 
and  was  member  of  the  General  Court ;  embarked  at  home 
for  Boston,  in  17D-3  ;  wrecked  on  the  passage  and  perished. 
Second,  William,  of  whom  presently.  Third,  Anne,  who 
married  the  second  son  of  the  Earl  of  Altamont.  Next, 
Hannah,  the  wife  of  Robert  Ilallowell.  Fifth,  Rebecca,  wife 
of  Philip  Dumarisque.  Last,  Abigail,  who  married  Oliver 
Whipple,  counsellor-at-law,  Cumberland,  Rhode  Island, 
and  subsequently  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  The 
husbands  of  Hannah  and  Rebecca  are  mentioned  in  these 
volumes. 

Under  the  provisions  of   Doctor    Gardiner's    will,    nearly 
the  whole  of  his  estate  in   Maine    passed  to  Hannah's  only 
39* 


462  GARDINER. 

son,  Hubert  Hallowell,  who,  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  that 
instrument,  added  the  name  of  Gardiner.  John,  as  is  stated, 
failed  to  become  the  principal  heir,  in  consequence  of  his 
political  and  religious  opinions  ;  and  William  "  was  not  an 
efficient  man."  [See  Robert  Hallo-well.'] 

GARDINER,  WILLIAM.  Of  Maine.  Son  of  Doctor  Syl 
vester  Gardiner.  Settled  on  his  father's  lands  on  the  Ken- 
nebec,  prior  to  the  Revolution.  He  gave  offence  to  the 
Whio's  because  he  u  would  drink  tea "  :  because  he  refused 

O 

to  swear  allegiance  to  their  cause ;  and  because  lie  called  them 
"  Rebels."  Arrangements  were  made  to  take  him  from  his 
bed  at  night,  and  tar  and  feather  him  ;  but  a  Whig,  friendly 
to  him,  carried  him  to  a  place  of  safety.  He  was,  however, 
made  prisoner,  tried,  and  sent  to  jail  in  Boston.  In  March, 
1778,  he  petitioned  for  release,  and  was  soon  after  allowed 
to  return  home,  where  "  he  was  regarded  as  a  harmless  man, 
and  was  suffered  for  the  most  part  to  remain  unmolested, 
except  by  petty  annoyances."  He  died  unmarried  at  Gar 
diner,  and  his  remains  were  interred  "  beneath  the  Episcopal 
vestry." 

GARDINER,  NATHANIEL.  Of  Pownalborough,  Maine. 
Kinsman  of  Doctor  Sylvester  Gardiner.  A  steady  Loyalist, 
and  distinguished  for  the  use  of  both  influence  and  fortune  in 
behalf  of  distressed  adherents  to  the  Crown.  For  a  year  or 
two,  the  account  of  him  is  contradictory.  By  one  of  his 
own  letters  it  appears  that,  in  1780,  he  was  in  command  of 
an  armed  schooner  called  the  Golden  lylppin  ;  was  captured 
by  "  a  detachment  of  General  Wadsworth's  Rebels,"  near  the 
Penobscot ;  and  conveyed  to  jail  in  Falmoutli  (now  Port 
land).  On  the  way,  "  he  was  taken  to  a  gallows,  and  told  that 
that  was  his  place."  He  says  he  was  allowed  neither  bed  nor 
blanket;  that  he  laid  down  on  a  plank  floor  full  of  spike- 
heads  an  inch  high  ;  that  neither  food  nor  drink  was  ordered 
for  him  ;  that  had  not  his  son  brought  him  some  money,  he 
should  have  died  of  cruel  treatment,  Kept  in  prison  four 
months,  and  robbed,  he  relates,  of  his  clothes  and  pocket- 
book,  he  escaped,  and  went  to  New  York.  At  the  peace 


GARDINER.  —  GARRETTSON.  463 

he  removed  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia.  Before  living  in 
Maine,  lie  was  a  magistrate  in  Rhode  Island. 

GARDINER,  Ami  AM.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  Colonel 
in  the  militia.  In  1770  he  tendered  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  inhabitants  of  South  and  Easthampton.  The  same 
year  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  Colonel  Livingston,  and  his 
case  reported  to  Governor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut. 

GARDNER,  HENRY.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Gao-e  on  his  arrival  in  1774.  He  died  at  Maiden 

e 

in  1817,  aged  seventy-one. 

GARNETT,  SAMUEL.  Of  Massachusetts.  Was  in  London  in 
1770,  and  addressed  the  King.  Of  the  Massachusetts  family, 
I  conclude,  were  Patrick,  who  was  an  ensign  in  the  Prince  of 
Wales  American  Volunteers ;  and  Joseph,  who  settled  in 
New  Brunswick,  was  Master  in  Chancery,  and  Deputy  Sur 
rogate,  and  died  in  St.  Andrew  in  1801. 

GARRETTSON,  REV.  FREEP.ORN.  Minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  He  Avas  born  in  Maryland  in  17-52,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  ministry,  "  on  trial,"  in  1770.  The  next 
year,  while  stationed  in  Virginia,  he  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  fidelity  to  the  Whigs,  and  was  told  that  he  must  leave  the 
State  or  go  to  jail.  But  he  was  not  then  molested.  In  1778, 
however,  when  preaching  in  Maryland,  he  was  met  by  a  man 
who  seized  his  horse's  bridle,  and  who  beat  him  over  the  head 
and  shoulders  with  a  large  stick.  In  the  affray,  Mr.  Garrett- 
son's  horse  started  off  at  full  speed,  but  his  assailant,  who  was 
also  mounted,  pursued,  and,  in  passing  him,  struck  a  blow 
which,  with  the  injury  in  falling  to  the  ground,  rendered  him 
senseless.  Again,  in  1778,  an  officer  waited  upon  him  with  a 
process,  and  threatened  to  confine  him  in  prison.  A  year 
later,  he  was  stationed  in  Delaware,  "  where  he  found  him 
self  an  object  of  suspicion  and  molestation  "  ;  and  at  Salis 
bury  "  he  was  informed  that  a  mob  had  already  collected, 
consisting  of  some  of  the  first  people  in  the  county,  with  a 
determination  to  effect  his  imprisonment."  lie  escaped  a 
second  time  ;  but  in  Maryland,  in  1780,  while  engaged  in  a 
religious  service,  he  was  seized  by  a  party  of  about  twenty 


4b'4  GARRISON. 

persons,  and  hurried  off  to  jail,  "  where  he  had  a  dirty  floor 
for  a  bed,  and  his  saddle-bags  for  a  pillow."  His  friends  soon 
interposed,  and  the  Governor  released  him. 

.In  1785  he  went  to  Nova  Scotia  as  a  missionary;  and 
while  there,  founded  a  Methodist  society  at  Halifax.  He  re 
turned  in  1787,  preached  several  times  in  private  houses  in 
Boston,  and  then  visited  Rhode  Island.  From  this  period 
until  1817,  he  was  actively  employed  in  various  parts  of  New 
Enojand  and  the  Middle  States,  and  became  distinguished. 

O  Z3 

For  the  ten  years  preceding  his  decease,  he  was  on  the  list  of 
"  supernumaries."  but  yet  he  continued  his  labors  as  "  a  min 
ister  at  large."  He  died  at  New  York  in  1827,  aged  seventy- 
five.  His  widow,  Catharine,  daughter  of  Chancellor  Robert 
R.  Livingston,  died  in  1849,  in  her  ninety-seventh  year.  He 
left  one  child,  a  daughter. 

GARRISON,  JOSEPH.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  in 
1734.  Notes  from  the  family  record,  furnished  me  by  two  of 
his  grandsons,  show  that  he  was  in  Nova  Scotia  as  early,  cer 
tainly,  as  1773.  Of  his  course  during  the  Revolution  little  is 
known.  Descendants  admit  his  lovalty.  He  was  in  New 
Brunswick,  probably,  before  the  peace ;  and  is  still  remem 
bered  in  that  Province  as  a  skilful  miner,  and  as  the  discov 
erer  of  the  "  Grand  Lake  Coal  Mines,"  which  of  late  years 
have  been  extensively  worked.  He  died  on  the  river  St. 
John.  Mary  Palmer,  who  was  born  in  Byfield,  Massachu 
setts,  in  1741,  and  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1704,  bore 
him  five  children  previous  to  the  war,  and  four  between  1776 
and  1783,  as  follows  :  "  Hannah  (the  eldest),  who  married 
John  Lunt,  lived  at  Eastport,  Maine,  some  years,  removed  to 
the  Penobscot,  and  died  there  about  the  year  1843  ;  Eliza 
beth,  or  Betsey,  who  married  William  Simpson,  and  died  at 
Kingston,  New  Brunswick,  in  1845  ;  Joseph,  who  died  on 
Deer  Island,  New  Brunswick,  in  1819,  aged  fifty-two;  Dan 
iel,  who  was  drowned  in  the  river  St.  John,  about  the  year 
1798 ;  Abijah,  of  whom  presently  ;  Sarah,1  who  married 
Joseph  Clark  ;  Nathaniel,  who  died  at  the  city  of  St.  John 
1  Lived  on  the  river  St.  John  in  1848. 


GARRISON  —  GAY.  465 

in  1817;  Silas;1  and  William,  who  died  on  the  river  St. 
John  in  1843. 

Abijah,  the  third  son,  was  born  in  Nova  Scotia,  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  in  1778. 
He  lived  awhile  at  St.  John,  but  removed  to  Newbnryport, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  resided  some  years.  Pie  returned  to 
his  native  Province,  finally,  and  probably  died  there  ;  of  his 
fate,  however,  persons  of  his  lineage  know  nothing.  Fanny 
Lloyd,  his  wife,  was  born  on  Deer  Island,  Passamaquoddy 
Bay,  New  Brunswick,  in  1776,  and  had  issue  —  Mary  Ann, 
Caroline,  James  Hotley,  William  Lloyd,  and  Elizabeth.  The 
youngest  son,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  of  Boston,  who  was 
born  at  Newburyport,  December  10,  1805,  and  who,  —  uni 
versally  known  for  his  labors  to  abolish  slavery,  —  is  the  sole 
survivor. 

GARRISON,  JOHN.  He  became  an  inhabitant  of  New 
Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Assembly  for  several  years.  His  end  was  sad.  He  died  on 
the  river  St.  John  in  1810. 

GATCIIEUS,  JACOB.  Of  Philadelphia.  Joined  the  British 
in  that  city,  and  went  with  the  Royal  Army  to  New  York, 
in  1778.  The  next  year  he  was  captain  of  the  privateer  Im 
pertinent,  was  captured,  and  committed  to  prison. 

GATCIIELL,  DENNIS.  Of  Maine.  Whig  at  first,  committee 
man,  and  captain  in  the  militia.  Repented,  in  1779,  of  hav- 
ino-  been  "  a  furious  and  revengeful  Rebel,"  and  acknowledged 

&  O  e!5 

that  he  deserved  no  mercy  from  a  sovereign  he  had  so  greatly 
abused,  but  still  flattered  himself  with  hopes  of  forgiveness. 
Possibly  the  Gatchells  of  the  island  of  Grand  Menan,  Bay  of 
Fundv,  are  of  his  lineage.  His  home,  I  conjecture,  was  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec. 

GAY,  REV.  EIJENE/ER,  D.D.  Minister,  of  Hingham,  Mas 
sachusetts.  In  doubt  as  to  his  course  in  the  Revolution,  his 
name  was  omitted  in  the  first  edition  of  this  work.  He  was 
born  in  1696,  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1714,  and 
was  ordained  in  1718.  He  died  in  1787,  at  the  age  of 
1  Lived  on  the  river  St.  John  in  1848. 


406  GAY.  —  GEAKE. 

ninety,  and  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  ministry.  The 
Rev.  Doctor  Cliauncey  "  pronounces  him  to  have  been  one 
of  the  greatest  and  most  valuable  men  in  the  country." 

GAY,  MARTIN.  Founder,  of  Boston.  Son  of  the  preced 
ing.  An  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in 
1775  ;  was  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778.  He  went  to 
Halifax  in  1770,  with  his  family.  I  suppose  he  returned;  a 
gentleman  of  this  name  died  at  Boston  in  1809,  aged  eighty- 
two. 

GAY,  SAMUEL.  Of  Massachusetts.  Son  of  Martin  Gay. 
He  was  born  in  Boston,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  University 
in  1775.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  he 
abandoned  his  native  country.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  first  House  of  Assembly  organized 
in  the  Colony,  and  represented  the  county  of  Westmoreland 
several  years.  He  was  also  a  magistrate  of  that  county,  and 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  died  at 
Fort  Cumberland,  New  Brunswick,  (where  his  father  had  a 
grant  of  land  from  the  Crown,)  January  21,  1847,  in  the 
ninety-third  year  of  his  age.  The  late  Hon.  Ebenezer  Gay, 
of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  was  his  brother. 

GAYXOJI,  JAMES,  and  PETER.  Were  grantees  of  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1783.  James  was  a  member  of  the 
Loyal  Artillery  in  1795,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1823,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-two. 

GEAKE,  SAMUEL.  A  Whig,  who  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
British,  corrupted,  and  induced  to  act  as  a  spy.  After  enter 
ing  the  service  of  the  enemy,  he  enlisted  among  his  former 
friends,  the  better  to  accomplish  his  purpose  of  betraying 
them.  His  designs  were  ascertained,  and  he  was  arrested 
in  1778,  tried,  and  condemned  to  die.  He  confessed  his  crime, 
but  Washington  spared  his  life,  because  the  court-martial  that 
tried  him  was  irregularly  constituted,  and  because  his  testi 
mony  was  deemed  important  against  Hammell,  formerly 
brigade-major  to  General  James  Clinton,  who  had  also  en 
tered  into  treasonable  designs  with  the  British.  Geake, 
according  to  his  confession,  was  to  receive  a  commission  of 


GEDDES.  -  GERRISII.  467 

lieutenant  in  a  corps  that  ITaminell  was  to  command,  as  soon 
as  it  could  be  raised  from  deserters  from  the  American  Army. 

GEDDES,  CHARLES.  Died  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1807, 
aged  fifty-six. 

GELSTON,  SAMUEL.  Of  Massachusetts.  Physician.  In 
January,  1776,  he  was  held  to  answer  before  a  joint  committee 
of  the  Council  and  House.  During  the  proceedings  against 

t5  i  S  & 

him,  it  appears  that  he  escaped  from  the  custody  of  the  mes 
senger,  fled  to  Rhode  Island,  where  he  was  apprehended  and 
brought  back.  Early  in  February,  the  committee  reported, 
that,  by  his  own  confession,  he  had  contravened  the  Resolves 
of  Congress,  had  supplied  the  enemy  with  various  articles  of 
provision  ;  and  that,  "  by  other  evidence,  it  appeared  he  was 
unfriendly  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  country."  There 
upon  ordered,  that  "  the  said  Samuel  Gelston  be  forthwith 
confined  in  some  jail  in  this  Colony,"  &c.  In  July  of  the  same 
year  he  was  at  the  Elizabeth  Islands,  in  the  custody  of  Bera- 
chiah  Basset,  who  was  directed,  by  a  Resolve  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  to  send  him  under  a  proper  guard  to  the  five  justices  in 
the  county  of  Suffolk,  appointed  specially  to  inquire  into  the 
conduct  of  persons  accused  of  enmity  to  the  Whigs. 

GERRISH,  MOSES.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1762.  In  the  Revolution,  he  was  at 
tached  to  the  commissary  department  of  the  Royal  Army. 
After  the  peace,  he,  Thomas  Ross,  and  one  Jones,  obtained 
license  of  occupation  of  the  island  of  Grand  Menan,  New 
Brunswick,  and  its  dependencies,  and  on  condition  of  procur 
ing  forty  settlers,  a  schoolmaster,  and  a  minister,  within  seven 
years  from  the  date  of  the  license,  were  to  receive  a  grant  of 
the  whole  from  the  British  Crown.  They  commenced  the  set 
tlement  of  the  island,  and  sold  several  lots  in  anticipation  of 
their  own  title,  but  failed  to  fulfil  the  conditions,  and  did  not 
obtain  the  expected  grant.  Jones  returned  to  the  United 
States,  but  Gerrish  and  Ross  continued  at  Grand  Menan. 
Gerrish  was  an  able  man.  A  gentleman  who  knew  him  long 
and  intimately,  remarks,  that  "-he  would  spread  more  good 
sense  on  a  sheet  of  paper  than  any  person  of  my  acquaint- 


408  GEYER.  —  GILBERT. 


His  powers  wore  not,  however,  devoted  to  any  regu 
lar  pursuit.  He  never  acquired  any  considerable  property, 
"  yet  always  seemed  to  have  enough."  He  "  did  nothing, 
yet  was  always  about  something."  He  was  a  magistrate  at 
Grand  Menan  for  many  years,  and  until  his  decease,  in  1880, 
at  the  age  of  eighty  years. 

GEYER,  FREDERICK  WILLIAM.  Merchant.  Of  Boston. 
Proscribed  and  banished  in  1778  ;  citizenship  restored  in  1789, 
by  Act  of  the  Legislature.  In  business  with  his  son,  No.  13 
Union  Street,  Boston,  in  1794.  Died  at  Walpole,  New  Hamp 
shire,  in  1808.  A  daughter,  who  died  near  London  in  1854i 
at  the  age  of  about  eighty-eight,  married  Mr.  Marryatt,  and 
was  the  mother  of  the  late  Captain  Marryatt  of  the  British 
Navy,  and  author  of  numerous  popular  \vorks  of  fiction. 

GIDXEY,  JOSHUA.  Of  a  place  near  Poughkeepsie,  New 
York.  He  was  imprisoned  for  his  agency  in  spiking  cannon 
in  the  vicinity  of  King's  Bridge,  but  was  released  finally,  and 
allowed  to  return  to  his  family.  Subsequently,  he  raised  and 
commanded  a  company  of  Loyalists.  At  the  peace,  accom 
panied  by  his  family  of  six  persons,  he  went  from  New  York 
to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted  him  one 
town  lot.  His  losses  in  consequence  of  his  loyalty  were  esti 
mated  at  c£670.  He  soon  abandoned  Shelburne  and  settled 
in  New  Brunswick,  where  he  was  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas.  He  died  about  the  year  1880,  aged  eighty- 
eight. 

GIDXEY,  JOSEPH.  Of  White  Plains,  New  York.  He  was 
the  owner  of  the  land  on  which  the  battle  of  White  Plains  was 
fought,  and  conducted  the  British  Army  thither.  At  the 
peace,  accompanied  by  his  family,  he  went  from  New  York 
to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted  him  one 
water  lot.  His  losses  in  consequences  of  his  loyalty  were  esti 
mated  at  c£1800.  He  removed  to  Digby  Neck  in  the  same 
Province,  and  died  at  Bridgetown  in  1811,  aged  seventy-three. 
Joshua  was  a  half-brother. 

GILBERT,  THOMAS.  Of  Freetown,  Massachusetts.  His  an 
cestor,  John  Gilbert,  as  is  supposed,  came  from  Devonshire, 


GILBERT.  469 

England,  at  an  age  somewhat  advanced,  and  lived  first,  with 
his  family,  at  Dorchester.  He  died  previous  to  1(554,  but 
Winnifred,  his  widow,  was  then  living.  He,  witli  Henry 
Andrews,  were  the  two  first  representatives  from  Tannton  to 
the  General  Court  at  Plymouth,  in  16o(J.  His  sons,  Thomas 
and  John,  removed  with  him  to  Tannton,  and  were  among  the 
first  proprietors  of  that  town.  Of  Thomas,  Governor  Win- 
throp  gravely  records,  that,  — 

u  8th  mo.  August  18,  1686  :  Thomas  Gilbert  brought  be 
fore  ns  ;  he  was  drunk  at  Serjeant  Baulson's,  and  the  con 
stable  being  sent  for  he  struck  him.  He  was  kept  in  prison 
all  night,  and  the  next  day  his  father,  John  Gilbert,  and  his 
brother,  John  Gilbert  of  Dorchester,  undertook  in  £40  that 
John  Gilbert  the  younger  would  appear  at  Court  to  answer 
for  him,  and  perform  the  order  of  the  Court,  &c.  The  reason 
was,  that  he  was  to  go  to  England  presently,  and  not  known 
to  have  been  in  any  way  disordered,  and  was  his  father's 
oldest  son,  who  was  a  grave,  honest  gentleman,  &c.  They 
did  undertake,  also,  that  he  should  acknowledge  his  fault 
openly  to  the  constable,"  &c. 

Thomas  went  to  England,  as  he  intended,  and  never  re 
turned,  but  died  there  in  1676.  His  wife,  Jane,  who  was  a 
daughter  of  Hugh  Rossiter,  and  his  children,  remained  at 
Taunton.  His  marriage  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first 
that  occurred  in  that  town.  The  name  of  his  oldest  son  was 
Thomas,  who  was  the  immediate  ancestor  of  Thomas  Gilbert, 
the  Loyalist,  who  is  the  subject  of  this  notice,  and  who,  on 
his  mother's  side,  was  descended  from  Governor  William  Brad 
ford,  the  second  chief  magistrate  of  Plymouth  Colony.  In 
174r>,  the  Thomas,  of  whom  we  are  now  to  speak,  was  a 
captain  at  the  memorable  siege  and  reduction  of  Louisburg, 
under  Sir  William  Pepperell.  In  the  French  war  of  IToo,  he 
was  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Massachusetts  forces  under 
Brigadier-General  Ruggles.  He  was  engaged  in  the  attempt 
against  Crown  Point;  and  after  the  fall  of  Colonel  Ephraim 
Williams,  in  the  battle  with  the  French,  under  Baron  Dieskau, 
at  Lake  George,  he  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  regiment. 

O     7  O 

VOL.  i.  40 


470  GILBERT. 

In  the  Revolutionary  controversy  lie  took  an  early  and 
decided  stand  in  behalf  of  the  Crown.  At  this  time  he  was 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  a  justice  of  the 
quorum,  and  a  colonel  in  the  militia.  In  1774  a  large  body 
of  the  people  proceeded  to  Freetown,  to  desire  him  not  to 
accept  of  the  office  of  sheriff  under  the  new  laws,  and  to  in 
form  him  that  if  he  acted  under  the  commission  which  it 
was  reported  he  had  received,  he  "  must  abide  by  the  con 
sequences.''  Soon  after  he  was  at  Dartmouth  ;  and  a  party 
of  about  a  hundred  assaulted  the  house  in  which  he  was  a 
loci  o'er  ;  but  with  the  help  of  the  family  he  prevented  their 
entrance.  In  the  autumn  of  1774  the  commotions  in  Bristol 
County  had  become  so  great  that  an  armed  force  was  deemed 
requisite,  by  General  Gage,  to  keep  the  people  in  subjection 
to  the  king's  authority  ;  and,  at  his  request,  Colonel  Gilbert 
raised  and  commanded  a  body  of  three  hundred  Loyalists. 
In  March,  1775,  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  Hon. 
James  Wallace,  Esquire,  commander  of  his  Majesty's  ship 
Rose,  Newport,  which  was  intercepted,  and  which  appears 
to  have  been  the  second  addressed  by  him  to  that  officer. 

u  Honorable  Sir:  — Since  writing  the  lines  on  the  21st  by 
Mr.  Phillips,  many  insults  and  threats  are,  and  have  been 
made  against  those  soldiers  which  have  taken  our  arms  and 
train,  and  exercise  in  the  King's  name  ;  and  on  Monday  next 
the  Captains  muster  at  the  south  part  of  the  town,  when  we 
have  great  reason  to  fear  thousands  of  the  Rebels  will  attack 
them,  and  take  our  lives,  or  the  King's  arms,  or  perhaps  both. 
1,  Sir,  ask  the  favor  of  one  of  His  Majesty's  Tenders,  or  some 
other  vessel  of  force,  might  be  at  or  near  Bowers',  in  order,  if 
any  of  our  people  should  be  obliged  to  retreat,  they  may  be 
taken  on  board.  Nothing  but  the  last  extremity  will  oblige 
them  to  quit  the  ground."' 

These  proceedings  attracted  immediate  attention,  and  pro 
duced  great  indignation.  In  April,  1775,  the  Congress  of 
Massachusetts  unanimously  declared  that  "  Colonel  Thomas 
Gilbert  is  an  inveterate  enemy  to  his  country,  to  reason,  to 
justice,  and  the  common  rights  of  mankind  ;  "  and,  that  "  who- 


GILBERT.  471 

ever  had  knowingly  espoused  his  cause,  or  taken  up  arms  for 
its  support,  does,  in  common  with  himself,  deserve  to  be  in 
stantly  cut  off  from  the  benefit  of  commerce  with,  or  counte 
nance  of,  any  friend  of  virtue,  America,  or  the  human  race." 
These  words  are  explicit  enough  ;  and  contain  as  full  and  as 
comprehensive  denunciation  as  can  be  found  in  the  records 
of  any  deliberative  body  during  the  controversy.  And  Con 
gress,  in  further  speaking  of  him,  use  the  term,  —  "Gilbert 
and  his  banditti." 

A  few  days  after  the  passage  of  these  resolutions  of  bitter 
censure,  Colonel  Gilbert  fled  to  the  ./fcw,  which  vessel  was 
still  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  thence  to  Boston.  On 
the  4th  of  May,  177f),  he  wrote  to  his  sons,  from  Boston, 
thus  :  - 

"  On  the  27th  of  April,  I  left  the  ship,  took  passage  on 
board  a  packet  sloop  on  the  first  instant,  in  health  arrived 
here,  where  I  expect  to  stay  till  the  Rebels  are  subdued,  which 
I  believe  will  not  be  long  first,  as  the  ships  and  troops  are 
daily  expected.  My  greatest  fears  are,  you  will  be  seduced 
or  compelled  to  take  arms  with  the  deluded  people.  Dear 
sons,  if  these  wicked  sinners,  the  Rebels,  entice  you,  believe 
them  not,  but  die  by  the  sword  rather  than  be  hanged  as 
Rebels,  which  will  certainly  be  your  fate  sooner  or  later  if  you 
join  them,  or  be  killed  in  battle,  and  will  be  no  more  than  you 
deserve.  I  wish  you  in  Boston,  and  all  the  friends  to  govern 
ment.  The  Rebels  have  proclaimed  that  those  friends  may 
have  liberty,  and  come  in  ;  but  as  all  their  declarations  have 
hitherto  proved,  I  fear,  i'alse,  this  may  be  so.  Let  Ruggles 
know  his  father  wants  him  here.  You  may  come  by  water 
from  Newport.  If  here,  the  King  will  give  you  provisions 
and  pay  you  wages  ;  but  by  experience  you  know  neither 
your  persons  nor  estates  are  safe  in  the  country,  for  as  soon  as 
you  have  raised  anything,  they  [the  Rebels]  will  rob  you  of  it, 
as  they  are  more  savage  and  cruel  than  heathens,  or  any  other 
creatures,  and,  it  is  generally  thought,  than  devils.  You  will 
put  yourselves  out  of  their  power  as  soon  as  possible.  This  is 
from  vour  affectionate  father." 


472  GILBERT. 

In  1770  Colonel  Gilbert  accompanied  the  Royal  Army  to 
Halifax  ;  and  in  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He 
continued  with  the  King's  troops  during  the  war,  "  often  em 
ployed,  and  constantly  rendering  every  service  in  his  power, 
for  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion."  In  1783  he  went  to 
Nova  Scotia,  and  on  the  lljth  of  November  of  that  year  he 
was  at  Conway,  in  the  county  of  Annapolis,  and  a  petitioner 
to  Governor  Parr  for  a  grant  of  lands.  At  a  subsequent  pe 
riod,  he  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  died  on  the  river  St. 
John,  near  the  year  1796,  aged  about  eighty-two.  On  retir 
ing  from  service,  at  the  close  of  the  French  war,  Colonel  Gil 
bert  declined  to  receive  half-pay.  He  held  no  commission  in 
the  Revolution,  and  was  consequently  entitled  to  no  allow 
ance  as  a  disbanded  officer  :  but  he  received  compensation  as 
a  Loyalist  for  his  losses. 

GILBERT,  THOMAS,  JR.  Of  Berkley,  Massachusetts.  Son 
of  Francis.  He  fled  to  Boston  in  1775,  and  joined  his  father  ; 
but  it  is  believed  did  not  accompany  him  to  Halifax.  In  1778 
he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  During  the  war  he  continued 
with  the  Royal  troops,  and  was  active  in  his  endeavors  to  sup 
press  the  popular  movement.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick 
after  the  war,  and  died  on  the  river  St.  John. 

GILBERT,  BRADFORD.  Of  Freetown,  Massachusetts. 
Brother  of  Thomas,  Jr.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and 
banished.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1783,  and  re 
ceived  the  grant  of  a  lot  in  the  city  of  St.  John.  In  1795 
he  was  a  member  of  the  St.  John  Loyal  Artillery,  and  in 
1803  an  alderman  of  the  city.  He  died  at  St.  John  in  1814, 
aged  sixty-eight.  Ann,  his  widow,  died  in  1853,  in  her  nine 
tieth  year. 

GILBERT,  PEREZ.  Of  Freetown,  Massachusetts.  Brother 
of  Bradford.  He  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  settled 
in  New  Brunswick  with  his  father  and  brothers,  and  died  in 
that  Colony. 

GILBERT,  FRANCIS.  He  was  Naval  Officer  of  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  died  at  St.  John  in  1821,  aged  eighty-two. 

GILBERT,  SAMUEL.     Of  Berkley,  Massachusetts.     He  was 


GILFROY.  —  GILP1X.  47:] 

a  brother  of  Colonel  Thomas,  and  went  with  him  to  Halifax 
in  177').  In  1778  lie  was  proscribed  and  banished.  lie  lived 
in  New  "Brunswick  for  a  time  after  the  Revolution,  but  finally 
returned  to  the  United  States. 

GILFKOY,  JOHN.  Boatswain  of  the  Montgomery,  armed 
ship  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  Tried  for  mutiny,  (in 
1778,)  and  for  joining  the  side  of  the  Crown,  in  Philadelphia  : 
found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  death. 

GILT  AX,  WILLIAM.  Of  Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey. 
A  Torv  marauder.  When  about  to  stab  an  aged  Whig  of 
the  name  of  Russell,  into  whose  house  he  had  broken,  he  was 
shot  by  Russell's  son,  who  lay  wounded  on  the  floor. 

GTLL,  THOMAS.  Of  Delaware.  Died  in  York  County, 
New  Brunswick,  in  18:>:>,  aged  seventy-seven.  Mary,  his 
widow,  a  native  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  died  in  the  same 
county,  1837,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one. 

GILLIES,  AKCHIIULD.  Died  at  Carleton,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1821,  aged  sixty-six. 

OILMAN,  PETEK.  Of  Gihnanton,  New  Hampshire.  He 
was  son  of  Major  John  Oilman,  and  was  born  in  1704.  He 
commanded  a  regiment  in  the  French  war  ;  was  Speaker  of 
the  Assembly ;  and  member  of  the  Council  of  New  Hamp 
shire.  Ordered,  November,  177."),  by  the  Provincial  Congress, 
that  he  confine  himself  to  the  town  of  Exeter,  and  not  depart 
thence  without  leave  of  that  body  or  the  Committee  of  Safety. 
He  died  in  1788,  aged  eighty-four. 

OiLMorii,  ROIJEKT.  He  was  banished  and  attainted,  and 
his  estate  Avas  confiscated.  In  17(.*4  he  represented  to  the 
British  Government,  that,  at  the  time  of  his  banishment,  debts 
were  due  to  him  in  America,  which  he  had  been  unable  to 
recover.  I  suppose  this  person  to  have  belonged  to  New 
Hampshire,  and  the  same  who  was  proscribed  by  .Vet  of  that 
State  in  1778. 

GiLnx,  THOMAS.  Of  Philadelphia.  In  1777  he  was  con 
fined  in  that  city  for  being  inimical  to  the  Whig  cause,  and 
ordered  to  Virginia  a  prisoner.  He  died  in  exile  at  Winches 
ter,  March,  1778. 

40* 


474  GIRTY. 

GIIITY,  SIMON.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Indian  Interpreter. 
Was  born  out  of  wedlock.  His  father  was  a  sot  ;  his  mother 
a  bawd.  He  figures  in  the  difficulties  of  Doctor  Conolly  and 
his  party,  with  the  authorities  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1774. 
Girty's  career  was  entirely  infamous.  He  was  an  early  pris 
oner  of  the  Whigs  at  Pittsburg,  but  escaped.  In  1778  he 
went  through  the  Indian  country  to  Detroit,  with  McKee 
and  Elliot,  proclaiming  to  the  savages  that  the  Rebels  were 
determined  to  destroy  them,  and  that  "  their  only  chance  of 
safety  was  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  Crown  and  fight."  In 
1782  Colonel  Crawford  was  captured  by  the  Indians  and  per 
ished  at  the  stake,  after  suffering  the  most  horrible  and  ex 
cruciating  tortures,  which  Girty  saw  with  much  satisfaction. 
This  is  the  statement  of  his  enemies  ;  and  it  is  but  fair  to  say 
here  that  he  denied  the  charge  and  averred  that  he  exerted 
himself  to  save  the  Colonel  until  his  own  life  was  in  peril. 
The  same  year  his  instigations  caused  the  removal  of  the  Mo- 

t/  <T3 

ravian  missionaries,  who  were  quietly  and  usefully  laboring 
among  the  Wyandots.  He  personally  engaged  in  driving 
away  these  self-denying  ministers,  treated  them  with  great 
harshness  on  the  march,  and  subsequently  procured  their  ar 
rest.  At  the  defeat  of  St.  Clair,  in  1701,  Girtv  was  present 
on  the  British  side  ;  and  saw  and  knew  General  Butler,  who 
lay  upon  the  field  writhing  from  the  agony  of  his  wounds. 
The  traitor  told  a  savage  warrior  that  the  wounded  man  was 
a  high  officer  ;  whereupon  the  Indian  buried  his  tomahawk 
in  Butler's  head,  whose  scalp  was  immediately  torn  off,  and 
whose  heart  was  taken  out  and  divided  into  as  many  pieces 
as  there  were  tribes  engaged  in  the  battle. 

In  1793  Commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
attempted  to  negotiate  with  the  Confederated  Nations  for  an 
adjustment  of  our  difficulties  with  the  Indians,  when  Girty 
acted  as  interpreter.  His  conduct  was  exceedingly  insolent  ; 
and  it  is  related  that  he  was  not  only  false  in  his  duty  as  an 
interpreter,  but  that  he  run  a  (mill  or  long  feather  through 
the  cartilege  of  his  nose  cross-wise,  to  show  his  contempt  for 
the  American  gentlemen  present.  The  failure  of  the  nego- 


GLEN.  —  GODDARD.  475 

tiation,  it  is  supposed,  was  in  a  good  measure  owing  to  the 
evil  influence  of  Girty  and  other  Loyalists.  He  adhered  to 
the  British  to  the  last,  and  was  killed  under  Proctor  in  1818, 
in  the  battle  of  the  Thames. 

GLLX,  WILLIAM.  Of  South  Carolina.  An  Addresser  of 
Sir  Henry  Clinton  in  1780,  and  also  a  Petitioner  to  be  armed 
on  the  side  of  the  Crown.  He  was  banished,  and  in  1782 
his  property  was  confiscated.  He  went  to  England. 

GLOVKR,  SAMUEL.  Ensign  in  I)e  Lancey's  Brigade.  In 
1770  he  was  captured  on  Long  Island,  and  committed  to 
jail  in  New  London.  He  is  called  "  a  notorious  offender." 
Among  the  papers  found  upon  his  person,  was  one  from  the 
captain  of  his  company  authorizing  him  to  enlist  men  "  for 
the  defence  of  the  liberty  of  America."  Thus  did  Loyalists 
sometimes  use  the  words  of  the  Whigs. 

GLOVER,  —  — .  Of  Newtown,  Connecticut.  In  177i>, 
under  the  direction  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  he  and  eight  other 
Loyalists  crossed  Long  Island  Sound  in  a  boat,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  capturing  Major-General  Silliman,  who  had  been  ap 
pointed  to  command  on  the  opposite  shore  of  Connecticut. 
Glover  had  been  employed  by  the  General,  and  was  familiar 
with  his  house.  The  party  approached  his  dwelling  at  night, 
and  awoke  himself  and  family  by  a  violent  assault  upon  the 
door.  Silliman  attempted  to  fire,  but  his  musket  only  flashed  ; 
when  the  assailants  broke  through  a  window  and  seized  him, 
and  bore  him  off.  On  approaching  the  Long  Island  shore, 
Colonel  Simcoe,  of  the  Loyalist  corps  of  Queen's  Rangers, 
was  in  waiting,  and  exclaimed,  "  Have  you  got  him  ?  "  He 
was  answered,  "  Yes."  "  Have  you  lost  any  men  ?  "  "  No." 
"That  is  well,"  said  Simcoe;  "your  Sillimans  are  not  worth 
a  man,  nor  your  Washingtons." 

GODDARD,  WILLIAM.  Son  of  Giles  Goddard,  Postmaster 
of  New  London,  Connecticut,  had  a  checkered  career.  He 
was  bred  a  printer,  and  established  the  first  printing-press  at 
Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in  170^  ;  and  soon  after  began 
the  publication  of  a  newspaper.  Not  meeting  with  sufficient 
encouragement,  he  went  to  New  York,  and  connected  himself 


476  GODDARD.. 

with  John  Holt  in  publishing  the  "  New  York  Gazette  and 
Post-Boy."  After  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  in  1766,  he 
removed  to  Philadelphia,  and  became  the  partner  of  Galloway 
and  Wharton,  in  a  paper  called  the  "  Pennsylvania  Chron 
icle."  These  gentlemen  were,  in  the  end,  both  Loyalists. 
It  would  seem  that  the  firm  expected  that  Franklin,  who  was 
then  in  England,  would  take  an  interest  in  the  concern  ;  and 
provision  was  made  in  the  articles  of  copartnership  accord 
ingly.  The  "  Chronicle  "  was  ably  conducted.  Galloway 
was  an  eminent  lawyer,  a  writer  of  great  vigor,  and,  as  was 
supposed,  a  friend  of  the  popular  cause.  In  1770,  after 
many  disputes,  the  partners  —  who,  in  the  meantime,  had 
admitted  Benjamin  Towne  as  a  member  of  their  establish 
ment —  came  to  an  open  rupture;  and,  having  dissolved  their 
connection,  filled  the  public  prints,  handbills,  and  pamphlets, 
with  the  ebullitions  of  their  animosity.  Unable  to  meet  the 
demands  against  the  firm,  Goddard,  in  great  embarrassment, 
left  Philadelphia,  in  1773,  and  went  to  Baltimore,  in  quest  of 
more  lucrative  business  and  greater  tranquillity  of  life.  Here 
he  started  another  newspaper ;  but  the  plan  of  setting  up  a 
line  of  post-riders  from  New  Hampshire  to  Georgia,  in  op 
position  to  the  Post-office  establishment  of  the  Crown,  soon 
engaged  the  attention  of  leading  minds  :  and  Goddard,  in 
trusting  his  printing  affairs  to  the  care  of  his  sister,  journeyed 
throughout  the  Colonies,  to  promote  the  adoption  of  the 
measure.  He  was  eminently  successful,  as  the  Whigs  entered 
into  the  scheme  with  great  readiness,  and  cheerfully  sub 
scribed  the  necessary  funds.  Goddard  was  appointed  Sur 
veyor  of  the  Roads  and  Comptroller  of  the  Offices,  on  the 
organization  of  the  Department ;  and  on  the  retirement  of 
Franklin,  who  was  placed  at  its  head,  expected  to  succeed 
him  as  Postmaster-General.  To  his  great  disappointment, 
Bache,  son-in-law  to  Franklin,  received  the  place  ;  and  God 
dard  resigned  his  situation  in  disgust.  It  was  supposed  that 
now  he  not  only  suffered  his  ardor  in  the  Whig  cause  to 
abate,  but  that  he  actually  abandoned  his  political  principles. 
He  resumed  his  residence  in  Baltimore,  where  his  paper,  the 


GODDAR]).  477 

"  Maryland  Journal,"  had  been  and  was  still  continued  by 
and  in  the  name  of  his  sister  ;  but  in  which  it  was  known 
that  he  had  an  interest,  and  over  which,  it  was  believed,  that, 
he  maintained  the  entire  control.  Early  in  1777,  two  articles, 
one  of  which  was  signed  u  Tom  Tell  Truth,"  and  the  other, 
"  Caveto,"  appeared  in  the  "Journal,"  and  excited  the  in 
dignation  of  the  Baltimore  Whig  Club,  who,  on  the  4th  of 
March,  resolved,  — 

"  That  William  Goddard  do  leave  this  town  by  twelve 
o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  and  the  County  in  three  days," 
&c.  He  immediately  claimed  the  protection  of  the  Assembly, 
then  in  session  at  Annapolis  ;  and  though  that  body  formally 
and  severely  rebuked  the  Club,  there  was  no  resisting  the 
popular  impulse  against  him,  and  before  the  quarrel  wras 
ended,  he  was  mobbed  on  several  occasions,  and  otherwise 
insulted  and  ill-treated.  This  was  especially  the  case  in  1779, 
when  the  publication  in  the  "  Journal  "  of  certain  Queries, 
excited  the  ire  of  the  Whig  Club  anew,  and  caused  a  great 
ferment.  lie  was  variously  employed  until  1784,  when  he 
appeared  as  the  proper  proprietor  of  the  "Journal."  In  1787 
he  became  involved  in  a  bitter  controversy  with  the  publisher 
of  a  rival  print,  in  which  lie  displayed  eminent  ability.  In 
1702  he  sold  his  press,  and  bidding  adieu  to  the  cares  and  tur 
moils  of  partv  and  political  strifes,  retired  to  a  farm  in  John 
ston,  Rhode  Island.  He  subsequently  changed  his  abode  to 
Providence,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his  decease  in 
1817,  aged  seventy-seven  years. 

Goddard  was  a  man  of  fine  talents,  and,  as  the  manager  of 
a  press,  had,  it  is  said,  few  or  no  superiors.  General  Charles 
Lee  continued  his  friend,  and  bequeathed  him  a  portion  of  his 
extensive  landed  estate  in  Virginia.  Lee,  it  will  be  remem 
bered,  failed  in  the  execution  of  his  orders  at  the  battle  of 
Momnouth,  was  disgraced,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
days  in  retirement.  He  was  the  writer  of  the  Queries  which 
caused  Goddard's  trouble  with  the  Whig  Club  in  1779. 

William  Goddard,  late  Professor  in  Brown  University,  a 
gentleman  of  rare  literary  attainments,  and  of  great  social 
and  moral  worth,  was  son  of  the  subject  of  this  notice. 


478  GODDEN.  —  GOLDTIIWAITE. 

GODDEX, .  Of  North  Carolina.  Colonel  of  a 

Loyalist  corps.  Killed  at  Elizabethtown,  North  Carolina,  in 
1781,  in  the  attack  of  the  Whigs  under  Colonel  Brown. 
[Sec  Slinysby.~\ 

GOLBIXG,  STEPHEN.  Residence  unknown.  Settled  in 
New  Brunswick  in  1783  ;  and  died  at  Long  Island,  in  that 
Province,  in  June,  1845,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years. 
For  the  thirty  years  previous  to  his  decease,  he  held  a  com 
mission  of  the  peace  for  Queen's  County.  For  fifty-five 
years  he  was  an  officer  in  the  Provincial  Militia,  and  retired 
with  the  rank  of  major.  He  was  a  consistent  member  of 
the  Church  of  England.  His  descendants  are  numerous,  — 
namely,  eleven  children,  seventy-one  grandchildren,  and 
seventy-four  great-grandchildren. 

GOLDING,  PALMER.  Of  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  A 
true  friend  to  Government,  and  a  captain  in  the  militia. 
Early  in  1775,  he  was  returning  from  a  visit  to  a  friend,  who 
was  suspected  of  desertion  from  the  Whigs,  and  of  being  a 
Tory,  and  whose  political  course  he  was  supposed  to  influ 
ence,  when  he  was  knocked  down,  and  much  bruised  and 
wounded. 

GoLnixG,  ZENUS.  Died  at  French  Village,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1814,  aged  fifty-six. 

GOLDSMITH,  HENRY.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and 
was  Collector  of  the  Customs  for  the  port  of  St.  Andrew. 

GOLDTIIWAITE,  THOMAS.  Of  Maine.  Born  in  Chelsea, 
Massachusetts.  Grantee,  with  Francis  Bernard,  son  of  the 
Governor,  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  Prospect,  on  the  Pe- 
nobscot,  on  condition  of  settling  thereon  thirty  families,  of 
building  an  Episcopal  church,  and  employing  a  minister. 
The  enterprise  was  interrupted  by  the  Revolution.  Both 
adhered  to  the  Crown,  and  forfeited  their  property.  In  1763 
he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  Fort  Pownall;  was 
superseded  in  1770  ;  but  restored  by  Governor  Hutchinson. 
In  1775  he  allowed  Mowat,  who  burned  Falmouth  (now 
Portland),  to  carry  oft'  the  cannon;  and  the  same  year  his 
petition  to  the  General  Court  to  be  paid  for  his  services  while 


GOLDTIIWAITE.  479 

in  garrison,  was  read,  referred,  but  final  action  deferred. 
The  Provincial  Congress,  in  an  Address  to  the  Indians  of 
Maine,  remarked  :  "  Captain  Goldthwaite  lias  given  up  Fort 
Pownal  into  the  hands  of  our  enemies  ;  we  are  angry  at  it, 
and  we  hear  you  are  angry  with  him,  and  we  do  not  wonder 
at  it."  He  solemnized  the  first  marriage  on  the  Penobscot  ; 

ZD  ' 

was  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  a  colonel 
in  the  militia.  The  account  of  him  is,  that  he  was  an  extor 
tioner,  arbitrary  and  cruel.  Early  in  the  war  lie  embarked  for 
Nova  Scotia,  was  shipwrecked  on  the  passage,  and  perished. 

GOLDTIIAVAITE,  PHILIP.  Of  Maine.  He  was  one  of  the 
two  persons  of  Saco  and  Biddeford,  Maine,  who  was  dealt 
with  by  the  Whigs  of  that  section  for  their  loyal  principles. 
He  was  an  officer  of  the  Customs,  and  lived  at  Winter 
Harbor.  As  soon  as  the  war  commenced,  he  placed  himself 
under  P>ritish  protection  at  Boston. 

GOLDTIIWAITE,  JOSEPH.  Of  Massachusetts.  Major,  and 
Barrack-master  of  the  King's  troops  in  Boston.  Brother  of 
Philip.  An  Addresser  of  Hutchinson.  In  August,  1775, 
Hannah,  his  wife,  crossed  Winnisimmet  Ferry,  was  arrested, 
and  taken  under  guard  to  the  General  Court  at  Watertown. 
It  appeared  on  her  examination  that  her  health  was  impaired, 
and  an  order  was  passed  to  allow  her  to  visit  Stafford  for  the 
benefit  of  the  waters  there,  but  to  be  under  the  care  of  the 
Selectmen  ;  and  afterwards  to  retire  to  the  house  of  her 
brother,  Joseph  Brigham,  at  Rehoboth,  and  to  be  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence.  In  1778, 
Mr.  Goldthwaite  was  proscribed  and  banished.  Administra 
tion  on  the  estate  of  Joseph  Goldthwaite,  of  Weston,  was 
advertised  by  Joseph  Gower,  of  Boston,  August  28,  1782. 

GOLDTHWAITE,  E/EKIEL.  Of  Boston.  Was  an  Addresser 
of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  a  Protester  against  the  Whigs 
the  same  year.  He  was  Register  of  Deeds  for  the  county  of 
Suffolk.  The  Rev.  John  Bacon,  who  was  minister  of  the  Old 
South,  and  whose  son,  Ezekiel,  was  a  member  of  Congress 
before  the  war  of  1812,  married  his  daughter.  Though  Mr. 
Goldthwaite  became  an  Addresser,  he  was  one  of  the  fifty- 


480  GOOD.  —  GOODRICH. 

eight  Boston  memorialists,  who,  in  1760,  arrayed  themselves 
against  the  Crown  officers,  and  set  the  ball  of  the  Revolution 
in  motion.  Elizabeth,  his  widow,  died  at  Boston,  in  1794, 
ao-ed  eighty. 

O  O        i/ 

GOOD,  DAVID.  Went  to  New  Brunswick  in  1788,  and 
died  at  King's-clear,  county  of  York,  1842,  aged  ninety-five. 
His  widow,  with  whom  he  lived  sixty  years,  survives  (1845), 
as  do  one  hundred  and  eleven  descendants. 

GOODALE,  NATHAN.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Gradu 
ated  at  Harvard  University  in  1759.  An  Addresser  of 
Hutchinson  in  1774,  but  signed  a  recantation.  The  same 
year,  however,  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Gage.  Early  in  1775 
he  secured  a  retreat  at  Nantucket.  After  the  organization  of 
the  Federal  Government,  he  was  Clerk  of  the  United  States 
Courts  in  Massachusetts.  In  1794,  the  title  of  a  book  was 
entered  in  his  office,  to  secure  copyright,  in  the  following 
words:  "  These  are  tlie  Predictions  of  John  Nolle*,  Astrologer 
and  Doctor.'"  He  died  at  Newton  in  1800,  aged  sixty-five. 
Mary,  his  wife,  died  in  Boston,  in  1794,  aged  fifty-seven. 

GOODRICH,  JOHN.  Of  Virginia.  He  seems  to  have  en 
joyed  the  confidence  of  the  Whigs  in  1775,  since  it  appears 
that  he  was  employed  to  import  gunpowder,  to  the  value  of 
,£5000,  and  was  entrusted  with  that  sum  in  advance  ;  since, 
too,  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  Lord  Dunmore,  who  caused 
him  to  be  seized  and  confined.  In  January,  1776,  he  peti 
tioned  the  Virginia  Convention  for  an  adjustment  of  his  ac 
counts,  which  caused  much  debate  in  that  body,  and  led  to 
developments  presently  to  be  related  in  the  notices  of  his 
sons.  In  March,  1776,  the  father  and  five  sons  had  aban 
doned  their  houses,  plantations,  negroes,  and  stock,  and  were 
servino-  the  Crown  under  Lord  Dunmore.  At  the  same  time, 

O  7 

his  Lordship  had  five  of  their  vessels  in  his  fleet,  under  orders 
to  constantly  run  up  the  rivers  of  Virginia,  and  seize,  burn,  or 
destroy,  everything  that  was  water-borne.  In  a  despatch  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  his  Lordship  remarks  that  the  mem 
bers  of  this  family  were  natives  of  the  Colony  ;  that  they  were 
spirited,  active,  and  industrious  ;  and  that  it  had  cost  him  much 


GOODRICH.  481 

pains  and  trouble  to  secure  them  to  the  Royal  cause.  Har 
assed  hy  both  parties,  Mr.  Goodrich  declared  at  last  that 
"he  did  not  value  life."  In  June,  177*>,  he  was  in  prison, 
in  chains,  and  sick.  His  wife  petitioned  in  his  behalf;  and, 
after  inquiry  into  his  condition,  he  was  relieved  of  his  fetters, 
and  taken  under  guard  to  a  place  suitable  for  the  recovery  of 
health.  In  prison  a  second  time,  the  Convention  of  Virginia 
ordered  provision  out  of  his  estate  for  the  support  of  his  wife 
and  young  children.  lie  was  released  finally,  and  went  to 
England.  He  returned,  and  was  engaged  in  fitting  out  pri 
vateers.  In  178"),  he  was  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and 
asked  leave  to  settle  there  with  his  family,  offering,  if  permis 
sion  was  given,  to  bring  twenty  sail  of  vessels,  and  to  establish 
himself  in  mercantile  business  ;  but  he  had  taken  so  active  a 
part,  in  the  war,  that,  upon  a  vote  of  the  town,  his  request  was 
refused  by  a  large  majority.  I  lose  sight  of  him  here.  Mar 
garet,  his  widow,  died  at  Grove  House,  Topsham,  England, 
in  1810,  aged  eighty.  His  daughter,  Agatha  Wells,  married 
Robert  Shedden,  a  Loyalist  who  is  noticed  in  these  pages, 
and  whose  descendants  in  England  are  persons  of  considera 
tion. 

GOODRICH,  JOHN,  JR.  Of  Virginia.  Son  of  John.  He 
was  implicated  with  his  brother  Bartlett  in  the  case  of  the 
British  goods,  inasmuch  as  he  received  them,  and  offered  them 
for  sale1.  Jt  appears,  too,  in  the  notice  of  William,  that,  as  re 
lates  to  a  quantity  of  powder  purchased  for  the  Colony  under 
the  arrangement  with  his  father,  he  was  a  party  to  the  fraud 
of  charging  much  more  than  the  cost.  The  result  was  that 
the  Convention  held  him  up  to  public*  odium,  by  publishing  a 
full  account  of  his  conduct. 

GOODRICH,  WILLIAM.  Of  Virginia.  Son  of  John.  In 
the  matter  of  the  gunpowder  his  conduct  was  inexcusable. 
He  was  implicated  in  two  purchases  of  that  article.  First, 
he  was  sent  to  the  West  Indies  by  his  father,  in  177"),  where 
he  procured  about  four  thousand  pounds,  which  arrived  safely 
in  North  Carolina.  The  importation  was  however  discovered 
bv  Lord  Dunmore,  who  seized  and  detained  him  until  intimi- 

VOL.    I.  41 


482  GOODRICH.  —  GORDON. 

dated ;  when  lie  disclosed  the  whole  affair,  and  went  in  an 
armed  vessel,  despatched  by  his  Lordship,  to  demand  the  value, 
and  the  money  remaining  in  the  agent's  hands.  This  done,  he 
was  discharged ;  but  when  the  Royal  Governor  was  advised 
that  he  intended  to  be  present  at  Williamsbnrg,  he  was  again 
made  prisoner,  and  kept  from  making  any  explanations  during 
the  investigation  mentioned  in  the  notices  of  his  father  and 
brothers.  The  second  case  was  far  worse :  He  rendered  his 
account  at  the  Treasury  Office,  and  made  oath  that  the  cost 
was  four  shillings  and  sixpence  the  pound  ;  whereas  the  evi 
dence  was  that  a  part  was  bought  at  three  shillings,  and  the 
remainder  at  two  shillings  and  ninepence.  In  the  dilemma, 
his  brother  John  stated  that  Bartlett  made  the  purchase  for 
his  own  benefit,  and  afterward  sold  to  William  at  the  price 
William  charged  the  Colony.  At  a  later  time,  he  fled  from 
home,  and  commanded  a  King's  tender  in  the  waters  of  the 
Chesapeake.  In  1776  he  was  a  prisoner  in  Philadelphia  jail, 
and  was  transferred  thence  to  prison  in  Baltimore. 

GOODRICH,  BARTLETT.  Of  Virginia.  Son  of  John.  Dur 
ing  the  investigation  referred  to  in  the  notice  of  his  lather, 
there  was  evidence  that  when  at  Antigua,  October,  1775,  lie 
purchased  goods  of  British  manufacture,  and  sent  them  to 
Virginia  packed  in  rum  puncheons,  where  they  were  exposed 
for  sale.  The  transaction  was  in  violation  of  the  Continental 
Association  ;  and  the  Convention  voted  to  expose  it  in  the 
"  Virginia  Gazette,"  in  order  to  warn  all  persons  to  forbear 
further  dealings  with  him.  He  went  to  England. 

GOODRICH,  BRIDGER  or  BRIDGED.  Of  Virginia.  Son  of 
John.  Commanded  an  armed  vessel  under  Lord  Dunmore. 
In  1776,  in  prison  at  Philadelphia,  with  his  brother  William, 
and  transferred  to  Baltimore.  In  1778  he  was  at  Bermuda, 
in  command  of  a  ship  of  twenty  guns  ;  and  was  still  there  in 
the  Naval  service,  two  years  later. 

GORDON,  THOMAS  Kxox.  Of  South  Carolina.  Born  in 
1728,  and  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Province  in  1771. 
He  went  to  England,  and  died  there  in  1796.  His  son 
John  was  lieutentant-colonel  of  the  50th  Reo-iment,  in  the 


GORDON.  —  GORE.  483 

British  Army.     The  family  seat  is  in  the  County  of  Down, 
Ireland. 

GORDON,  HARRY.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Was  summoned 
by  proclamation  to  appear  before  November  1,  1781,  else 
he  would  be  attainted  ;  and  failing  to  do  so,  his  estate  was 
seized  by  the  commissioners  of  forfeitures,  and  most  of  it  sold. 
These  proceedings  were  against  Henry  Gordon  ;  and,  by  an 
Act  of  January,  1783,  the  misnomer  was  corrected,  and  the 
Executive  Council  of  that  State,  under  that  law,  sold  the 
remainder  of  his  estate  in  1790.  In  the  Revolution  he  held 
a  military  commission  under  the  Crown. 

GORDON,  CHARLES.  Attorney-at-law,  of  Cecil  County, 
Maryland.  In  1775,  the  Whig  Committee  of  that  county, 
at  a  meeting  at  Elk  Ferry,  "  Resolved,  That  he  lies  under 
the  imputation  of  being  an  enemy  to  this  country,  and  as  such 
we  will  have  no  dealings  or  communication  with  him,  nor 
permit  him  to  transact  any  business  with  us,  or  for  us,  either 
in  a  public  or  private  capacity,  which  shall  be  commenced 
after  the  date  hereof,"  &c.  Mr.  Gordon  "  had  treated  with 
great  disrespect,  and  maliciously  aspersed  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  Provincial  Congress,  and  the  Committee  of  this 
County  ;  and  had,  at  various  times,  and  by  sundry  ways, 
vilified  their  proceedings."  A  newspaper  controvery  ensued, 
in  which  the  delinquent  admitted  that  his  politics  were  not 
quite  agreeable  to  his  accusers,  &c. 

GORDON,  ALEXANDER.  A  physician,  of  Norfolk,  Virginia. 
In  February,  1775,  the  Whig  Committee  of  Observation 
held  him  up  for  public  censure,  for  the  importation  of  medi 
cines,  contrary  to  the  Continental  Association.  This  Com 
mittee  was  composed  of  thirteen  persons,  and  they  were 
unanimous  in  their  opinion  of  the  Doctor's  delinquency.  He 
went  to  England,  and  was  a  Loyalist  Addresser  of  the  King, 
July,  1779.' 

GORE,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  An  Addresser  of  Gage.  At 
the  evacuation  in  1770,  went  to  Halifax  with  the  Royal 
Army,  and  thence  to  England.  Proscribed  and  banished  in 
1778  ;  citizenship  restored  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  in  1787. 


484  GORHAM.— GOSS. 

He  died  in  Boston,  in  1796,  aged  seventy-seven.  His  son, 
Hon.  Christopher  Gore,  was  long  one  of  the  most  conspic 
uous  public  characters  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  gentleman 
of  eminent  worth  and  talents. 

GORHAM,  DAVID.  Of  Massachusetts.  Graduated  at  Har 
vard  University  in  1733.  In  1774  he  was  one  of  the  bar 
risters  and  attorneys  of  Massachusetts  who  addressed  Hutch- 
inson.  He  died  in  1780. 

GORNELL, .  Sergeant  in  the  Whig  Army.  Under 

Greene,  in  South  Carolina,  he  plotted  to  betray  that  officer 
to  the  British,  with  his  entire  force.  When  his  plans  were 
nearly  matured  he  was  arrested,  and,  upon  sentence  of  a 
court-martial,  executed. 

GOUT,  WILLIAM.  Of  Newr  York.  In  1780  he  and  James 
Plateau,  another  Loyalist,  hired  the  house  of  Garret  Put 
nam,  a  Whig,  who,  receiving  orders  to  repair  to  Fort  Hunter, 
took  his  family  with  him.  Two  days  after  Putnam's  de 
parture,  a  party  of  Sir  John  Johnson's  Royal  Greens  came  to 
the  settlement  (now  embraced  in  the  town  of  Mohawk),  and, 
supposing  the  house  was  still  occupied  by  Whigs,  entered  it 
at  night,  and  murdered  and  scalped  two  men.  In  the  morn 
ing,  the  dead  bodies  of  Gort  and  Plateau  revealed  to  them 
that  they  had  murdered  two  friends. 

GORUM,  NATHANIEL.  Went  to  New  Brunswick  in  1783. 
He  died  at  Kingston,  in  that  Province,  February  9,  1846, 
aged  ninety-four  years.  Numerous  offspring  of  children, 
grandchildren,  and  great-grandchildren,  survive. 

Goss,  REV.  THOMAS.  Of  Bolton,  Massachusetts.  Con 
gregational  minister.  Graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
1737,  and  was  settled  about  the  year  1741.  During  the 
Revolutionary  controversy  he  became  much  involved  with  his 
people  ;  but  it  was  finally  agreed  that  he  should  rea<J  a  dec 
laration  from  his  pulpit,  and  send  a  copy  to  the  eldest  deacon. 
This  he  did,  but  his  enemies  said  that,  instead  of  reading  the 
paper  distinctly,  as  was  expected,  u  he  intermixed  it  with  his 
sermon,  so  that  many  of  the  congregation  did  not  understand 
that  he  had  read  it  at  all ;  and  inquired  why  he  had  not 


GOUCHER.  —  GRAHAM.  485 

done  as  lie  promised."  To  this  Mr.  Goss  replied,  that, 
"  According  to  the  best  of  his  remembrance,  the  said  decla 
ration  was  distinctly  read  before  the  text  itself;  but  most 
certainly  before  the  sermon,  and  not  intermixed  with  it ;  and 
it  was  done  with  this  design,  that  the  sermon  might  be  at 
tended  to  without  prejudice."  The  quarrel  was  renewed. 
At  last,  it  was  proposed  that  if  he  would  take  a  dismission,  the 
question  of  salary,  under  the  contract  of  settlement,  should 
be  referred  to  the  "general  session  of  the  peace."  No  ar 
rangement  was  made,  however ;  and  the  disaffected  party, 
without  applying  to  him  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  church,  got 
together  and  voted  to  dismiss  him  "  as  pastor,  teacher,  and 
brother."  The  town  in  public  meeting  concurred,  and  "on 
the  succeeding  Lord's  day,  by  violence  did  prevent  him  from 
entering  the  desk."  The  next  movement  was  the  denial  of 
further  support,  and  the  hiring  of  another  preacher.  He 
died  in  1780,  aged  sixty-three.  His  friends  erected  a  monu 
ment  to  his  memory. 

GOUCHER,  JOSEPH.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
at  the  peace,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city. 

GOULD,  JOHN.  Of  Massachusetts.  Went  to  England, 
and  was  a  Loyalist  Addresser  of  the  King  in  1779. 

GRAHAM,  JOHN.  Of  Ulster  County,  New  York.  In  1775 
a  number  of  his  Majesty's  loyal  subjects  met  at  his  house  and 
erected  a  Royal  Standard,  on  a  mast  seventy-five  feet  high, 
with  the  following  inscription  :  — 

"  In  testimony  of  our  unshaken  loyalty  and  incorruptible 
fidelity  to  the  best  of  Kings  ;  of  our  inviolable  affection  and 
attachment  to  our  parent  State  and  the  British  Constitution  ; 
of  our  abhorrence  of  and  aversion  to  a  Republican  Govern 
ment  ;  of  our  detestation  of  all  treasonable  associations,  un 
lawful  combinations,  seditious  meetings,  tumultuous  assem 
blies,  and  execrable  mobs  ;  and  of  all  measures  that  have  a 
tendency  to  alienate  the  affections  of  the  people  from  their 
rightful  Sovereign,  or  lessen  their  regard  for  our  most  excel 
lent  Constitution  ;  and  to  make  known  to  all  men  that  we 
are  ready,  when  properly  called  upon,  at  the  hazard  of  our 
41* 


486  GRAHAM.  —  GRANT. 

lives  and  of  everything  dear  to  us,  to  defend  the  King,  sup 
port  the  magistrates  in  the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  main 
tain  the  just  rights  and  constitutional  liberties  of  free-born 
Englishmen,  this  Standard,  by  the  name  of  the  King's  Stand 
ard,  was  erected,  by  a  number  of  his  Majesty's  loyal  and 
faithful  subjects  in  Ulster  County,  on  the  10th  day  of  Feb 
ruary,  in  the  15th  year  of  the  reign  of  our  most  excellent 
sovereign,  George  the  Third,  whom  God  long  preserve." 

GRAHAM,  JOHN.  Of  Georgia.  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
that  Colony.  He  went  to  England.  After  the  deatli  of  Sir 
James  Wright,  he  and  William  Knox  were  appointed  joint 
agents  of  the  Georgia  Loyalists  for  prosecuting  their  claims 
for  losses.  Attainted  and  estate  confiscated.  He  was  in  Lon 
don  in  1788. 

GRANT,  JAMES.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  Was  an  Ad 
dresser  of  Gage  in  1774.  Went  to  Halifax,  but  returned, 
and  was  at  Boston  in  January,  1776  ;  at  which  time  he  had 
been  promised  a  commission  in  the  Royal  Army.  Mary,  his 
widow,  died  at  Salem,  in  1792,  aged  fifty-nine. 

GRANT,  ALEXANDER.  Major  in  the  New  York  Volunteers. 
Killed,  1777,  in  the  storming  of  Forts  Montgomery  and  Clin 
ton.  His  widow  perished  in  1787,  of  cold  and  exposure  when 
wrecked  near  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  crossing  the  Bay 
of  Fundy. 

GRANT,  DANIEL.  Was  a  native  of  Gillespie,  Sutherland, 
Scotland,  and  emigrated  to  the  United  States.  At  the  peace 
he  removed  with  other  Loyalists  to  St.  Andrew,  New  Bruns 
wick,  where  he  continued  to  reside,  and  where  he  reared  a 
numerous  family.  He  died  January,  1834,  aged  eighty-two 
years. 

GRANT,  WILLIAM.  Of  Virginia.  In  1776  he  taught  a 
school,  and  was  "zealous  for  Government."  A  Whig  force 
was  raised  to  repel  the  Cherokees,  and  "  to  screen  himself  from 
being  deemed  a  Tory,"  he  joined  a  company  of  riflemen  to  be 
stationed  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Ohio. 
He  wrote  a  "  Narrative,"  dated  November  24,  1777,  on  board 
the  "  Queen  Indiaman  at  Gravesend,"  England,  and  styles 
himself,  "  late  a  Sergeant  in  the  Rebel  Army." 


GRAVES.  487 

GRAVES,  JOHN.  Of  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  He  was 
the  vicar  of  Clapham,  Yorkshire,  England,  and  in  17-34  came 
to  Providence,  to  succeed  the  Rev.  John  Checkley,  an  Epis 
copal  clergyman,  who  died  the  previous  year,  and  as  the 
Missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts.  In  1770  Mr.  Graves  wrote  to  the  Society, 
that  "  the  face  of  public  affairs  here  is  melancholy.  Altar 
against  altar  in  the  Church,  and  such  open,  bold  attacks  upon 
the  State,  as,  I  believe,  the  English  annals  do  not  furnish  us 
with  the  like  since  the  reign  of  King  Charles  I."  These 
were  signs  of  the  coming  storm.  In  September,  177(3,  he 
wrote :  "  Since  independency  has  been  proclaimed  here,  my 
two  churches  have  been  shut  up ;  still  I  go  on  to  bapti/e  their 
children,  visit  their  sick,  bury  their  dead,  and  frequent  their 
respective  houses  with  the  same  freedom  as  usual  ;  "  and  adds, 
with  gratitude,  that  "  their  benefactions  to  me  since  the  above 
period  have  been  great,  and  far  beyond  what  I  have  ever 
experienced  from  them  before ;  founded  upon  their  commiser 
ating  sense  that  the  necessary  means  of  supporting  my  large 
family  —  a  wife  and  seven  children  —  were  now  entirely  cut 
off."  In  1782  Mr.  Graves  was  expelled  from  the  parsonage 
and  glebe,  because  he  refused  to  open  his  church  in  conformity 
with  the  principles  of  independency.  He  soon  after  resigned 
his  ministry,  after  a  labor  of  twenty-six  years.  He  died  at 
Providence,  in  1785. 

GRAVES,  JOHN.  Of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts.  In  1775 
he  was  sent  to  the  jail  at  Northampton,  on  the  charge  of  hold 
ing  improper  intercourse  with  General  Gage  at  Boston.  Ac 
cused,  May,  1770,  of  assisting  Captain  McKay,  a  prisoner,  to 
escape,  in  direct  violation  of  his  parole,  he  was  sent  to  Hart 
ford  jail,  and  put  in  close  confinement.  In  a  letter  to  James 
Warren,  it  is  said  that  Graves  appeared  to  be  "  a  low-spirited, 
insidious  fellow."  In  1778  proscribed  and  banished. 

GRAVES,  REV.  MATTHEW.  An  Episcopal  minister  at  New 
London,  Connecticut.  He  was  sent  there  by  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  in  1745,  and  continued  his 
labors  for  the  period  of  thirty-three  years.  Refusing,  in  1778, 


488  GRAY. 

to  omit  the  usual  prayer  for  the  King,  he  was  driven  from  his 
church,  on  Sunday,  before  he  had  time  to  divest  himself  of 
his  surplice.  He  fled  to  the  house  of  a  Whig,  who,  one  of 
his  flock,  protected  him.  But  though  displaced,  he  remained 
in  New  London  for  some  time  ;  and  was  compelled  "  to  sell 
almost  all  his  property,  and  to  take  up  money  on  very  disad 
vantageous  terms,"  in  order  to  support  himself.  Finally,  he 
went  to  New  York,  and  died  there,  in  1780,  unmarried.  "  In 
person  he  was  ungainly  ;  of  low  stature,  rather  corpulent, 
with  particularly  short  legs."  A  maiden  sister  who  lived 
with,  and  who  accompanied  him  in  his  exile,  returned  to  New 
London,  lonely  and  disconsolate,  and  was  allowed  to  occupy 
two  rooms  in  the  parsonage  ;  she  subsequently  removed  to 
Providence. 

GRAY,  HARRISON.  Receiver-General  of  Massachusetts.  He 
was  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson,  was  a  Mandamus  Council 
lor,  was  proscribed  and  banished,  and  was  among  those  whose 
estates  were  confiscated  by  statute.  In  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  August  8,  1775,  "  Ordered,  that  Mr.  Hopkins  be 
directed  to  inquire  how  the  Committee  of  Supplies  have  dis 
posed  of  the  horse  and  chaise  formerly  Harrison  Gray's,  which 
was  used  by  the  late  Dr.  Warren,  and  came  to  the  hands  of 
the  said  Committee  after  Dr.  Warren's  death."  The  next 
day,  "  Ordered,  that  Dr.  William  Eustis  be,  and  hereby  is 
directed,  immediately  to  deliver  to  the  Committee  of  Supplies 
the  horse  and  chaise  which  were  in  the  possession  of  the  late 
Doctor  Warren,  and  which  formerly  belonged  to  Harrison 
Gray,  of  Boston."  In  1776,  at  the  evacuation,  he  went  to 
Halifax  with  his  family  of  four  persons.  He  was  passenger 
in  one  of  the  six  vessels  that  arrived  at  London  from  Halifax, 
prior  to  June  10,  1776,  laden  with  Loyalists  and  their  families. 

At  his  house  in  London,  in  1789,  or  the  year  after,  Arthur 
Savage  gave  the  Rev.  Mr.  Montague  a  bullet  taken  from  the 
body  of  General  Warren  the  day  after  his  death.  [See  Ar 
thur  Savage.]  Mr.  Gray  wras  a  timid  man  ;  and  was  accused 
of  being  on  both  sides  in  politics,  according  as  he  met  Whig 
or  Tory.  In  private  life  he  was  remarkably  exemplary. 


GRAY.  489 

In  "  McFingal  "  it  is  said,  — 

"  What  Puritan  could  ever  pray 
In  godlier  tones  than  Treasurer  Gray; 
Or  at  town-meetings  speechifying, 
Could  utter  more  melodious  whine, 
And  shut  his  eyes,  and  vent  his  moan, 
Like  owl  afflicted  in  the  sun  ?  " 

Mr.  Gray  died  in  England.  His  only  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
was  the  first  wife  of  Samuel  Allyne  Otis,  and  mother  of  Har 
rison  Gray  Otis,  who,  a  distinguished  statesman  while  the 
Federalists  were  in  the  ascendency,  died  at  Boston,  in  1849, 
aged  eighty-four. 

GHA.Y,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  Harrison  Gray.  He 
went  to  Ireland  soon  after  the  battle  of  Lexington.  Hearing 
that  the  difficulties  would  probably  be  adjusted,  he  embarked 
for  Massachusetts,  and  was  made  prisoner  off  Newburyport. 
He  was  in  Newbury  jail,  February,  1770,  when,  at  the  solici 
tation  of  his  sister,  the  wife  of  Samuel  Allyne  Otis,  as  com 
municated  to  the  Council  by  James  Otis,  an  order  was  passed 
to  allow  his  removal  to  Barnstable.  on  condition  of  <>-ivincv 

o          o 

bond  with  security  in  X1000,  not  to  pass  without  the  limits  of 
that  town,  or  deal  or  correspond  with  the  enemy.  Mr.  Gray 
was  in  Louclon,  January,  1781.  Possibly,  the  John  Gray 
who  died  at  Boston  in  1805,  aged  sixty-five,  was  the  same. 
GRAY,  JOSKPII.  Of  Boston.  A  native  of  Massachusetts, 
and  born  in  1729.  The  Christian  name  of  his  father  does 
not  appear,  but  his  mother  was  Rebecca,  daughter  of  John 
West,  a  rich  farmer  of  Bradford,  or  Haverhill,  Massachusetts. 
The  "  old  people  "  were  displeased  with  the  match,  and  cut 
off  Rebecca  with  one  pine-tree,  or  a  piece  of  silver  valued  at 
one  shilling."  The  family  papers  show  that  the  grand-uncle 
of  the  subject  of  this  notice  (Benjamin  Gray,  of  Boston,  who 
died  in  1741,  or  the  year  following)  received  a  letter  from  an 
uncle  in  England,  informing  him  that  he  was  u  next  heir  to  a 
title  and  an  estate  "  there  ;  and  that,  being  of  the  religious 
sect  called  "New  Lights,''  he  replied  he  would  not  abandon 
his  faith  "  to  be  made  King  of  England." 


490  GRAY. 

Of  Mr.  Gray's  course  in  the  Revolution,  I  find  nothing. 
He  settled  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Proctor  &  Gray,  merchants.  He  died  in  1803,  at 
that  city,  or  at  Windsor,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  His  wife 
was  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  Gerrish.  His  third 
son,  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Gerrish  Gray,  D.  D.,  who  was  born 
in  1768,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Ray  Thomas, 
a  Loyalist,  [see  notice,]  and  was  many  years  Rector  of 
St.  George's  Parish,  Halifax,  and  afterwards  of  an  Episco 
pal  Church  in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  died  at  the  latter 
city  in  1854.  His  fourth  son,  William,  was  born  in  1777  ; 
was  British  Consul  for  Virginia  for  a  long  time,  and  died  in 
England,  in  1845,  or  a  year  later.  His  other  children  were 
Mary,  Rebecca,  Elizabeth  Breynton,  Joseph  Gerrish,  Mary 
Gerrish,  Amelia  Ann,  William  Spry,  Lydia  Hancock,  Ann 
Susanna,  Susanna,  Sarah,  and  Alexander.  A  grandson  (son 
of  Benjamin  Gerrish),  the  Rev.  John  William  Deming  Gray, 
D.  D.,  has  been  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  now  (1861)  quite  twenty  years.  In  December, 
1857,  he  preached  a  sermon  "  designed  to  recommend  the 
principles  of  the  Loyalists  of  1783,"  which  was  published. 
The  main  points  of  this  discourse  are  :  —  First,  the  Loyalists 
"  believed  in  the  Bible  as  a  Revelation  from  God  ;  "  second, 
they  entertained  "  a  respect  for  the  ordinances  of  religion  ;  " 
third,  "  they  were  just  in  their  dealings  with  their  fellow- 
men  ;"  and  fourth,  "they  were  loyal  to  their  earthly  sov 
ereign."  His  son,  Benjamin  Gerrish  Gray,  (the  third  of  this 
name,)  is  a  counsellor-at-law,  in  Boston. 

GRAY,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Brother  of  Joseph  Gray.  He 
was  bred  to  business  in  that  town  by  Caleb  Blanchard.  About 
the  year  1768  he  went  to  England,  but  returned  previous  to 
hostilities,  and  was  appointed  Deputy-Collector  of  the  Cus 
toms,  in  which  office  he  was  popular.  In  1776  he  embarked 
for  Halifax  with  the  Royal  Army,  and  before  the  close  of  that 
year  was  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  in  prison.  He 
was  still  in  that  city  as  late  as  1780,  when  he  was  an  Ad 
dresser  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  Before  the  last  mentioned  date, 


GRAY.  491 

however,  ho  had  engaged  in  business  as  a  commission  mer 
chant,  and  had  purchased  a  plantation  on  account  of  himself 
and  of  John  Simpson,  a  fellow  Loyalist,  of  Boston.  But,  in 
volved,  politically,  beyond  the  hope  of  extrication,  he  sold 
his  interest  in  the  plantation,  and  invested  the  proceeds  in 
indigo  and  in  a  ship,  with  the  intention  of  sailing  for  London. 
The  Whig  authorities  not  only  defeated  this  plan,  but  seized 
his  vessel  and  her  cargo  ;  and  the  result  was,  that  of  both 
he  saved  barely  one  hundred  guineas.  With  this  sum,  he  fled 
to  his  brother  Joseph  at  Halifax,  who  procured  for  him  a  pas 
sage  to  England  in  a  ship-of-war.  Without  any  accession  to 
his  fortune,  yet,  with  letters  to  the  agents  of  the  East  India 
Company,  he  soon  embarked  for  India,  and,  on  his  arrival 
there,  was  well  received.  The  family  account  is,  that  he 
wrote  a  treatise  on  the  Cultivation  of  Indigo,  which  the  Gov 
ernor  and  Council  considered  so  valuable  as  to  m-ant  him 

O 

X4000  sterling,  and,  jointly  with  a  Mr.  Powell,  an  extensive 
tract  of  land.  The  two  grantees,  assisted  by  the  Company, 
established  a  factory,  and  began  the  culture  of  indigo,  which 
—  as  is  stated  in  the  papers  before  me  —  was  the  first  attempt 
to  cultivate  this  beautiful  dye  in  India. 

Both  died  suddenly,  in  1782.  on  the  same  day.  Gray  was 
at  the  plantation,  and  Powell  was  two  hundred  miles  distant, 
at  the  factory  ;  and  the  supposition  was  that  they  had  in 
curred  the  jealousy  of  the  natives,  who  caused  their  death  by 
poison.  Powell's  brother  told  Joseph  Gray,  prior  to  1709, 
that  the  estate  of  our  Loyalist  and  his  associate  had  become 
"  the  oreatest  indigo  plantation  in  the  known  world." 

t?  O        I 

GRAY,  SAMUEL.  Of  Boston.  Brother  of  Joseph  Gray. 
He  died  in  that  town  about  the  year  1776,  leaving  issue,  male 
and  female.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Captain  Henry  At 
kins,  of  Boston. 

GRAY,  THOMAS.  Of  Boston.  Merchant.  A  Protester 
against  the  Whigs,  and  one  of  the  Addressers  of  Hutchinson. 

O  O     7 

He  died  at  Boston  in  17H8. 

GRAY,  JESSE.  "Of  a  Southern  State."  Went  to  Shel- 
burne,  Nova  Scotia,  at  the  peace.  Removed  to  an  island 


492  GRAY.  —  GREEN. 

near  Yarmouth,  in  the  same  Province,  where  he  had  a  large 
grant  of  land  for  his  military  services.  Died  about  the  year 
1840. 

OKAY,  BENJAMIN  DINGLEY.  Of  Virginia.  Was  one  of 
the  Non-Associators,  or  a  person  who  refused  to  join  the  Con 
tinental  Association,  and  was  posted  by  the  Whig  Committee 
in  March,  1775,  accordingly.  On  seeing  his  name  in  the 
list,  he  said  "  that  he  looked  upon  this  Committee  as  a  pack 
of  damned  rascals,  for  advertising  him  as  they  had  done,"  &c. 
Subsequently,  the  Committee  denounced  his  conduct  by  a 
resolution,  in  which  they  declare  that  he  should  "  be  looked 
upon  as  inimical  to  the  liberties  of  America,"  and  that  "  no 
person  ought  to  have  commercial  intercourse  with  him." 

GRAY,  WILLIAM.  Of  Westchester  County,  New  York. 
Was  a  Protester  in  1775  ;  settled  in  New  Brunswick  at  the 
peace  ;  was  a  magistrate  of  King's  County  ;  and  died  in  1824, 
aged  ninety-six.  A  Loyalist  of  this  name  was  a  captain  in 
the  New  York  Volunteers. 

GRAY,  JUSTUS.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  at  the  peace, 
and  died  in  that  Province  in  1843. 

GREEN,  FRANCIS.  Of  Boston.  Merchant.  Second  son 
of  Hon.  Benjamin  Green,  President  of  the  Council  and  Coin- 
mander-in-Chief  of  Nova  Scotia,  whose  ancestor  was  John 
Green,  who  settled  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  about  the 
year  1G39.  Born  in  Boston  in  1742,  and  graduated  at  Har 
vard  University  in  1700.  While  yet  a  student,  his  father  ac 
cepted  for  him  an  ensign's  commission  in  the  40th  Remment, 

D  e>     ' 

under  a    promise  of  leave    of  absence  until    he  should    have 

completed  his  studies.  But  the  war  with  France  interrupted 
this  arrangement ;  and,  in  1757.  he  joined  his  corps  at  Hali 
fax.  He  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Louisburg  in  1758,  and 
remained  in  the  garrison  there  until  June,  1760,  when  he 
accompanied  his  regiment  to  Quebec.  He  relates  that,  while 
at  the  capitol  of  Cape  Breton,  the  tedium  of  military  life  in 
that  lone,  desolate  region,  was  relieved  by  shooting,  hunting, 
fishing,  assemblies,  and  plays  ;  that  the  officers  fitted  up  quite 
a  pretty  theatre,  in  which  they  were  the  actors  ;  that  he  "  was 


GREEN.  493 

urged  to  take  an  active  part,  and  performed  several  characters 
in  tragedy  and  comedy,  not  without  commendation."  In 
June,  1T()1,  the  40th  crossed  the  St.  Lawrence;  and  by 
inarches,  and  in  batteaux,  passed  through  the  wilderness  to 
Crown  Point ;  thence  proceeded  by  the  usual  route  of  the 
time,  to  Xew  York,  and  embarked  for  the  West  Indies.  Pie 
records,  that  he  assisted  in  the  siege  of  Martinique  ;  that  he 
went  to  Antigua  and  St.  Christophers  with  his  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  where,  in  six  days,  they  purchased  and  hired  four 
hundred  negroes,  and  joined  the  fleet  in  time  to  participate 
in  the  reduction  of  Havana.  At  the  peace,  having  served 
tour  campaigns,  u  with  credit,  but  very  little  promotion,"  he 
determined  to  quit  the  army.  In  17(55,  he  went  to  England, 
and,  the  year  after,  sold  his  commission  of  lieutenant,  re 
turned  to  Boston,  and  settled  in  mercantile  business. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  controversy,  he 
•fc  adhered  to  the  old  Constitution,"  he  relates,  though  always 
a  firm  friend  to  civil  liberty,  u  and  an  avowed  enemy  to  the 
pretended  unlimited  power  of  Parliamentary  taxation,  in  the 
hope  of  an  honorable  compromise,  without  recourse  to  arms." 
In  1774  he  went  to  Connecticut  on  business,  and  stopped  at 
Windham.  The  u  Sons  of  Liberty  "  assumed  that  his  de 
signs  were  political,  and  surrounding  the  tavern,  uttered  in 
sulting  shouts  and  words,  and  threatened  him  with  a  ride 
on  Wk  the  Tory  cart,"  unless  he  instantly  departed.  He  jour 
neyed  to  Norwich,  where  lie  was  greeted  with  the  ringing  of 
the  bell,  and  other  manifestations  of  the  popular  excitement  ; 
and  u  the  cart,"  or  departure  within  fifteen  minutes,  were 
the  terms  offered.  He  attempted  to  address  the  throng,  but 
was  seized  by  a  very  stout  man,  who  called  him  "  a  rascal." 
The  fearful  "•  cart,"  with  a  high  scaffolding  for  a  seat,  was 
driven  up,  and  preparations  were  made  to  compel  him  to 
mount  it,  when  he  entered  his  own  carriage,  and,  mid  scoffs 
and  hissings,  the  beating  of  drums,  and  blowing  of  horns, 
drove  away.  On  his  return  to  Boston,  he  ottered  a  reward 
for  the  apprehension  of"  the  ruffians  "  ;  but  they  were  merry 
over  his  advertisement,  and,  reprinting  it  in  handbills,  circu- 

VOL.  i.  42 


494  GREEN. 

lated  it,  with  their  comments.  An  Addresser  of  Hntchinson 
and  of  Gage,  he  embarked  with  the  British  at  the  evacuation 
of  Boston,  in  1776,  (accompanied  by  his  three  young  chil 
dren,)  and  went  to  Halifax,  where  he  was  appointed  a  magis 
trate.  In  1777  he  repaired  to  New  York.  In  1778  he  was 
proscribed  and  banished.  In  1780  he  arrived  in  England. 
In  June,  1784,  he  returned  to  Nova  Scotia  ;  and  while  in 
that  Colony,  was  elected  Sheriff  of  the  county  of  Halifax  for 
three  successive  years,  and  appointed  Senior  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

In  179G,  six  hundred  Maroons  were  transferred  from 
Jamaica,  by  order  of  the  Government,  and  the  Commis 
sioners  for  their  settlement  purchased  his  lands  and  buildings 
at  Preston,  Cole  Harbor,  and  Dartmouth.  This  sale,  the 
inadequacy  of  his  official  income,  his  "  predilection  for  the 
land  of  his  ancestors,"  and,  to  use  his  own  words,  the  fact 
that  "  at  that  period  his  country  was  respectably  Federal,  and 
appeared  to  open  its  eyes  to  discern  the  folly  of  an  alliance 
with  France,"  are  enumerated  as  the  principal  reasons  for  re 
moving  to  the  United  States.  He  fixed  his  residence  at  Med- 
ford,  Massachusetts,  in  1797,  and  died  there  in  1809,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-seven,  the  last  of  the  male  branch  of  his  family, 
of  the  fourth  American  generation. 

The  document  placed  at  my  disposal  by  one  of  his  relatives 
—  from  which  I  have  quoted — shows  that  Mr.  Green  was 
benevolent  and  humane,  and  a  gentleman  of  elevated  senti 
ments.  It  affords  evidence,  too,  that  he  was  vain  of  himself 
and  of  his  lineage.  His  account  of  the  honors  and  offices 
conferred  upon  his  father,  is  tediously  minute,  and  gives  a 
clue  to  his  political  character.  Plainly  enough,  he  was  a 
sturdy  monarchist  when  a  British  subject,  and  a  bitter  foe  to 
democracy  after  he  became  an  American  citizen. 

His  afflictions  and  misfortunes  were  many  and  severe  ;  yet 
lie  seems  to  have  borne  all  his  domestic,  and  a  part  of  his  pe 
cuniary  losses,  in  a  proper  spirit,  His  first  wife  died,  and  two 
children  perished  under  distressing  circumstances  ;  and  he 
suffered  by  accusations  of  "false,  envious,  and  malicious 


GREEN.  495 

brethren."  As  a  Loyalist,  lie  abandoned  a  considerable 
amount  of  property  in  Boston  ;  as  a  merchant,  at  New  York, 
subsequently,  in  a  single  month,  he  was  the  loser,  without  in 
surance,  of  one  half  of  an  armed  brier  of  sixteen  guns  and 
seventy  men,  and  of  four  valuable  vessels,  of  which  he  was 
sole  owner ;  and  later,  after  he  came  to  Medford,  as  an  under 
writer  he  paid  away  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in  the  course 
of  two  years. 

The  great  error  of  his  life  was,  a  willingness  to  live  and  to 
die  —  as  John  Adams  has  it  —  "  a  Colonist";  and  I  have 
been  amazed,  from  the  outset  of  my  researches,  that,  of  the 
Americans  who  were  engaged  m  commerce,  a  sino-le  one 

f»     £">  O 

should  have  adhered  to  the  power  that  branded  them  with  an 
epithet,  and  visited  them  with  the  pains  and  penalties  o$  smug 
gling,  whenever  detected  in  prosecuting  voyages  to  countries 
not  included  in  the  British  dominions. 

Bare  justice  to  his  memory  demands  that  this  brief  outline 
should  conclude  with  a  respectful  notice  of  his  efforts  to  ame 
liorate  the  condition  of  mutes.  His  son  Charles  was  discov 
ered  to  be  deaf  when  a  child  ;  and,  at  the  age  of  eight,  was 
sent  to  a  private  institution  in  Edinburgh,  where  he  re 
mained  nearly  six  years,  and  became  a  proficient  in  lan 
guage  both  oral  and  written,  in  arithmetic,  geography,  and 
painting.  In  the  hope  of  doing  good  to  others  as  unfortu 
nate  as  his  son,  Mr.  Green  published  a  pamphlet  in  Lon 
don,  in  178-3,  entitled,  "Vox  Oculis  Subjecta  ;  or,  A  Dis 
sertation  on  the  Curious  and  Important  Art  of  imparting 
Speech,  and  the  Knowledge  of  Language,  to  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  with  a  proposal  for  extending  and  perpetuating  the 
benefits  thereof."  This  was  followed,  after  his  return  to 
Massachusetts,  by  various  essays  in  the  "  Boston  Palladium," 
and  other  newspapers,  in  1803,  and  two  succeeding  years,  in 
which  he  endeavored  to  convince  his  countrymen  of  the  prac 
ticability  of  educating  mutes  ;  and  finally,  by  the  translation 
of  the  whole  of  the  Abbe  de  1'Epee's  work,  showing  hi* 
manner  of  instructing  the  deaf  and  dumb,  called,  "  Institu 
tions  des  Sounds  et  Muets." 


496  GREEN. 

His  first  wife,  Susanna,  daughter  of  Joseph  Green,  died 
during  the  siege  of  Boston,  and  in  November,  1775.  Of  their 
five  children,  one  was  burned  to  death  at  the  age  of  four: 
two  others  died  young  ;  Charles,  the  mute,  was  drowned, 
when  seventeen  ;  and  Susanna,  who  deceased  in  1802,  mar 
ried  Stephen  H.  Binney,  of  Halifax.  In  1785  he  was  united 
to  Harriet,  daughter  of  David  Matthews,  and  was  the  father 
of  Harriet  Matthews,  Henrv  Francis,  Anna  Winslow,  and 
Eliza  Atkinson,  born  in  Nova  Scotia ;  of  Mary  Hall  and 
Matthews  W.,  born  in  Medford.  The  oldest  son  by  the  second 
marriage,  Henry  Francis,  now  lives  (1860)  at  Bellows  Falls. 

GREEX,  JOSEPH.  Of  Boston.  Born  in  1706,  and  grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University,  1726.  A  wit,  a  poet,  and  a 
merchant.  He  was  appointed  Mandamus  Councillor,  but,  it 
is  believed,  did  not  take  the  oath  of  office.  His  name  is  found 
among  the  Addressers  of  Hutchinson.  He  went  to  England, 
and  died  there,  in  1780,  aged  seventy-four.  He  published 
several  of  his  performances,  which  were  mostly  humorous  : 
of  these  may  be  mentioned,  the  burlesque  on  a  psalm  of  his 
fellow  wit,  Doctor  Byles  ;  ridicule  of  free-masons,  and  lamen 
tation  on  Mr.  Old  Tenor  —  paper  money.  He  was  proscribed 
and  banished.  Though  this  gentleman  was  found,  finallv. 

O  t3  * 

among  the  adherents  of  the  Crown,  and  became  an  exile,  he 
was  one  of  the  fifty-eight  Boston  memorialists  in  1760  ;  and 
in  1764  was  a  member  of  a  committee  with  Samuel  Adams, 
to  report  instructions  to  the  Boston  representatives.  This  re 
port  is  very  —  Whiggish. 

In  1776.  he  was  member  of  the  Loyalist  Club  formed  in 
London  by  the  exiles  from  Massachusetts,  for  social  inter 
course.  They  met  once  a  week  ;  discussed  the  news  of  the 
time,  their  own  condition,  and  dined.  The  number  present 
was  from  twelve  to  twenty-five.  We  may  be  sure  that,  with 
his  reputation,  he  was  always  welcome.  1  give  the  following 
as  a  specimen  of  his  humor.  A  farmer  who  had  just  lost  his 
hired  man,  went  to  Boston  to  get  Joe  to  write  an  epitaph. 
Green,  on  being  told  of  all  the  good  qualities  of  the  de 
ceased,  and  especially  that  he  could  rake  faster  than  any- 


GREEN.—  GREENE.  497 

body,   present  company,   of  course,  excepted,  —  immediately 

wrote,  — 

"  Here  lies  the  body  of  John  Cole, 
His  master  loved  him  like  his  soul ; 
He  could  rake  hay,  none  could  rake  faster, 
Except  that  raking  dog,  his  master." 

An  epitaph  composed  for  him  in  early  life  was  in  these 
words :  — 

"  State  viator,  here  lies  one, 
Whose  life  was  whim,  whose  soul  was  pun  5 
And  if  you  go  too  near  his  hearse, 
lie  '11  join  you  in  both  prose  and  verse." 

GRKKX,  THOMAS.  OF  Pennsylvania.  Was  ordered  by 
proclamation  to  appear  and  be  tried,  or  to  stand  attainted. 
A  Loyalist  of  the  name  of  Thomas  Green  died  in  New 
Brunswick  previous  to  the  year  1805 ;  his  widow  married 
Clayton  Tilton,  of  Musquash,  New  Brunswick. 

GRKEX,  WILLIAM.  Drummer  in  Washington's  Guard. 
Concerned  in  the  Ilickey  plot  against  the  life  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  in  1770.  lie  was  the  leading  witness  at 
the  trial  of  Hickey  before  the  court-martial,  and  the  recipi 
ent  of  "  one  dollar  per  man  from  Forbes  for  every  man  he 
shall  enlist."  Green,  in  his  testimony,  said  that  "  all  Forbes 
proposed  to  me  was,  that,  when  the  King's  forces  arrived,  we 
should  cut  away  King's  Bridge,  and  then  go  on  board  a  ship 
of  war,  which  would  be  in  Fast  River  to  receive  us." 

GREENE,  RICHARD.  Of  Rhode  Island.  He  was  born  in 
that  Colony,  in  17:25.  He  owned  and  lived  on  a  large  estate. 
"  His  furniture  and  wines  were  imported  from  England.  Ser 
vants,  both  white  and  colored,  were  numerous Al 
ways  employing  an  overseer accounts  for  his  having 

leisure  to  entertain  more  company,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
private  gentleman  in  Rhode  Island,  and  he  was  remarkable  for 
very  great  hospitality.  A  large  proportion  of  his  visitors  were 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  personages  of  the  clay." 

lie  regarded  the  Revolution,  at  the  beginning,  as  a  rebellion 
against  lawful  authority  ;  and  suffered  in   consequence  of  his 
avowed  opinion,  as  well  as  for  his  supposed  acts,  subsequently, 
42* 


498  GREENE.  —  GREENL  AW. 

in  aid  of  the  British.  It  is  averred  that  "  he  remained  strict 
ly  neutral."  He  died  in  1779.  The  common  people  called 
him  tw  Kino-  Richard,"  to  distinguish  him  from  others  of  the 
same  name,  and  for  his  charity  to  the  poor,  and  his  magnifi 
cent  manner  of  living.  It  is  said  of  him,  too,  that  he  neither 
purchased  soldier's  certificates,  nor  paid  a  debt  in  Continental 
money.  His  wife  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  Thomas  Fry,  of 
East  Greenwich.  Of  his  fourteen  children,  eleven  survived 
him. 

GREENE,  RICHARD.  Of  Boston.  Addresser  of  Gage  in 
1775  ;  the  Council  of  Massachusetts  ordered  his  arrest,  April, 
1776.  He  died  at 'Boston,  in  1817,  aged  eighty-seven. 

GREENE,  DAVID.  Of  Boston.  At  the  Latin  School  in 
1757  ;  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774  ;  proscribed  and 
banished  in  1778.  Went  to  England.  Returned,  and  citi 
zenship  restored  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  in  1789.  Died  at 
Ballstown  Springs,  in  1812,  aged  sixty-three.  At  the  time  of 
his  decease,  a  friendly  pen  wrote:  —  '"Very  few  persons  have 
passed  through  life  so  much  beloved  and  esteemed  as  Mr. 
Greene,  by  a  numerous  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintance. 
His  singular  sweetness  of  temper,  his  undeviating  politeness, 
his  uncommon  attention  to  strangers,  and  his  extensive  con 
nexions  in  business,  made  him  known  and  admired  in  every 
part  of  the  Union  ;  and  he  was  justly  considered,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  as  one  of  the  most  accomplished  gentlemen  of 
New  England.  He  was  for  many  years  a  distinguished  mer 
chant,  and  wras  alike  esteemed  for  his  integrity  and  his  atten 
tion  to  business.  During  the  latter  years  of  his  life  he  was 
President  of  the  Union  Insurance  Company." 

GREENE,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Boston.  Protester  in  1774  ;  an 
Addresser  of  Hutchinson  the  same  year.  In  1770  the  Coun 
cil  of  Massachusetts  ordered  his  arrest.  Died  in  Boston  in 
1807,  aged  sixty. 

GREENLAW,  JONATHAN.  Of  Castine.  Maine.  Brother  of 
Charles  Greenlaw.  At  the  evacuation  of  Castine  by  the  Royal 
forces,  in  1783,  he  removed  to  St.  Andrew,  New  Brunswick, 
where  he  died,  in  1818,  aged  eighty.  His  sons,  six  in  number. 


GREENLAW.  -  GREGORY.  499 

were  Whigs.  His  son  William,  the  only  one  who  entered 
the  service1,  was  a  soldier  under  Washington,  ind  at  the  peace 
settk'd  at  Deer  Isle,  Maine,  where  he  died,  in  183$,  aged  eighty- 
seven.  His  son,  the  late  Jonathan  Babbage  Greenlaw,  was  a 
ship-master,  and  lived  at  Eastport,  Maine. 

GREKNLAW,  WILLIAM.  Of  St.  George's  River,  Maine. 
Brother  of  Charles.  lie  remained  on  his  farm  during  the 
war,  and  continuing  in  the  country  after  the  close  of  the  strife, 
died  at  St.  George  in  1828. 

GKEENLAW,  CHARLI-S.  Of  Castine,  Maine.  Brother  of 
Ebene/er.  He  accompanied  Jonathan  and  Ebene/er  to  St. 
Andrew,  where  he  settled,  and  died  in  1811,  aged  about  sixty- 
eight. 

GREENLAW,  EBENE/ER.  Of  Castine,  Maine.  Brother  of 
Charles.  He  removed  to  St.  Andrew,  New  Brunswick,  at 
the  peace,  where  he  died  about  the  year  1810,  aged  seventy. 

GREENEEAE,  STEPHEN.  Of  Boston.  Was  Sheriff  of  Suf 
folk  County.  He  was  a  Protester  against  the  Whigs  in  1774, 
and  one  of  the  ninety-seven  gentlemen  and  principal  inhabit 
ants  of  the  capital  who  addressed  Gage  on  his  departure  in 
177").  His  arrest  ordered  by  the  Council  of  Massachusetts, 
April,  177<).  He  died  at  Boston,  in  1795,  aged  ninety-one. 

GREENWOOD,  SAMUEL.  Of  Boston.  A  Sandemanian. 
Was  a  Protester  in  1774  ;  accompanied  the  Royal  Army  to 
Halifax  in  177<>  ;  remained  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  died  at  Hali 
fax.  His  son,  Samuel,  died  at  the  same  place,  in  1832,  aged 
fifty-seven. 

GREGORY,  WILLIAM.  Of  Maine.  Kept  a  sort  of  tavern 
in  a  log-house,  at  George's  River.  Was  often  plundered  by 
both  parties.  "  Reckoned  a  Tory."  Was  a  jolly,  light- 
minded  fellow  ;  much  fonder  of  a  merry  story  than  of  polit 
ical  discussions,  and  loved  money  better  than  England  or 
America. 

GREGORY,  WILLIAM.  Of  South  Carolina.  An  Assistant 
Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  under  the  Royal  Government  ; 
was  allowed  to  depart  the  countrv.  The  only  native  Ameri 
can  on  the  bench,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  was 


500  GREGORY.  —  GRIERSON. 

William  Henry  Drayton,  who  was  a  Whig  ;  he  made  the  last 
circuit  with  Gregory  and  his  other  associates,  in  the  spring  of 
17T5. 

GREGORY,  RICHARD  P.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  at  the 
peace,  and  died  at  Kingston  in  that  Province,  in  1847,  in  his 
ninety-sixth  year. 

GRIDEEY,  BENJAMIN.  A  lawyer,  of  Boston.  Graduated 
at  Harvard  University  in  1751.  John  Adams  said  of  him,  in 
1709,  that  he  possessed  capacity,  real  sentiment,  fancy,  wit, 
humor,  judgment,  and  observation  ;  yet,  that  he  had  no  busi 
ness  of  any  kind,  was  in  bed  till  ten  in  the  morning,  laughed, 
drank,  and  frolicked,  and  neither  studied  nor  practised  his 
profession.  He  was  among  the  barristers  and  attorneys  who 
addressed  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  one  of  the  Addressers  of 
Gage  in  1775.  He  went  to  Halifax  in  1776.  In  1778  he 
was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  was  in  England  at  the  close 
of  the  Revolution. 

GRIERSON, .    Colonel  in  the  Loyal  Militia.     A  man 

of  unshaken  loyalty  in  every  change  of  fortune,  and,  before 
the  alienations  of  civil  war,  universally  respected.  In  1781, 
at  the  siege  of  Augusta,  Georgia,  he  occupied  an  outwork 
which  bore  his  own  name,  and  which,  after  some  resistance, 
he  evacuated  with  the  design  of  joining  Browne  in  Fort  Corn- 
wallis.  He  was  made  prisoner,  however,  and  murdered.  One 
account  is,  that,  confined  in  a  house  with  his  three  children, 
"  an  unknown  marksman."'  disguised  and  on  horseback,  rode 
rapidly  up  to  the  building,  dashed  into  the  room  in  which 
Grierson  was  kept,  and,  without  dismounting,  shot  him  dead, 
then  wheeled  about,  and  escaped.  Another  version  is,  that 
he  was  killed  by  a  well-known  Whig,  who  said  that  in  1780 
Grierson  chained  his  father  —  seventy-eight  years  of  ao-e  — 

*/  O  •/  O 

to  a  cart,  and  dragged  him  forty  miles  in  two  days  ;  and  that 
he  ordered  the  driver  to  apply  the  whip  whenever  the  old 
man  attempted  to  rest  himself  by  leaning  on  the  cart.  One 
hundred  guineas  were  offered  for  the  discovery  of  the  assassin, 
without  success.  The  Loyalists  averred  that  this  reward  was 
a  mere  pretence  ;  and  that  Grierson's  body  was  stripped,  man 
gled  by  the  soldiers,  and  thrown  into  a  ditch. 


GRIERSON.  —  GROUT.  501 

GRIERSON,  JAMES.  Was  a  native  of  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  and  emigrated  to  America  before  the  Revolution. 
He  served  in  the  Royal  Army,  and  at  the  peace  settled  in 
New  Brunswick,  where  he  died,  in  184(>,  at  the  great  age  of 
one  hundred  and  five  years.  He  was  a  pensioner  of  the  Brit 
ish  Government  more  than  sixty  years. 

GRTSWOLD,  SETII.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1788, 
and  died  at  Queensbury,  York  County,  in  1888,  aged  eighty- 
one  years. 

GRISWOLD,  DANIEL.  Of  Litchfield,  Connecticut.  Adver 
tised  in  1776,  by  the  Committee  of  that  town,  "  as  an  enemy 
to  the  natural  rights  of  mankind."  The  next  year  he  was  tried 
by  a  court-martial  as  a  traitor  and  spy,  and  executed. 

GROUXDWATER,  -  — .  Of  South  Carolina.  Early  in 
the  war  in  command  of  a  small  vessel,  and  of  service  to  the 
Whigs  in  supplying  them  with  articles  of  necessity.  In  1779 
he  was  taken  going  over  to  the  enemy,  tried,  and  executed. 
Some  interest  was  made  to  save  his  life  ;  but,  suspected  of 
assisting  to  set  fire  to  a  part  of  Charleston,  "  the  inhabitants 
were  so  incensed  against  him  that  lie  suffered  to  appease 
them." 

GROUT,  JOHN.  Of  Cumberland  County,  New  Hampshire 
Grants.  Born  in  Lunenburg,  Massachusetts,  in  1731.  When 
he  removed  to  the  "  Grants,"  he  had  a  wife  and  several  chil 
dren  ;  and  the  authorities,  on  the  ground  that  his  family  would 
become  chargeable  as  paupers,  held  him  to  answer.  He  pre 
vented  forcible  ejectment  by  a  promise  "  on  honor,  and  as  a 
lawyer,"  that  he  Avould  voluntarily  depart.  Restless  in  his 
disposition,  and.  as  it  seems,  meddlesome  withal,  he  was  often 
in  trouble  in  the  place  to  which  he  next  went  ;  and  was  at 
last  put  in  prison  for  debt.  In  the  controversy  which  pre 
ceded  the  appeal  to  arms,  he  was  violent  and  denunciatory  in 
his  acts  and  words  against  the  Whigs,  and  met  harsh  treat 
ment  in  return.  His  own  account  is  that  he  was  threatened 
with  death.  In  1777  he  abandoned  the  country ;  and  in  1770 
was  forbidden,  by  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Vermont, 
to  return.  He  settled  in  Canada.  "  His  end  was  as  tragic 


502  GRYMES. 

as  his  life  had  been  turbulent  and  unhappy."  He  set  out  for 
the  purpose  of  paying  a  large  sum  of  money  which  he  had 
collected  for  another,  but  never  reached  the  end  of  his  journey. 
It  was  supposed  that  he  was  drowned  ;  but,  in  the  lapse  of 
years,  a  convict  under  sentence  of  death  confessed  that  he 
murdered  John  Grout,  and  described  the  place  of  his  burial, 
which,  when  examined,  revealed  human  bones. 

GRYMES,  JOHN  RANDOLPH.  Of  Virginia.  Major  in  the 
Queen's  Rangers.  In  1776  he  joined  Lord  Dunmore,  and 
raised  and  commanded  a  troop  of  horse.  His  Lordship,  in  a 
letter  to  Lord  George  Germain,  remarks  that  Mr.  Grymes 
was  a  great  acquisition  to  the  Royal  cause  ;  that  he  was  of  the 
first  family  in  Virginia,  a  gentleman  of  fortune,  of  amiable 
character,  of  strict  honor,  and  brave,  active,  able.  The  same 
year  Mr.  Grymes  was  expelled  from  his  estate,  and  thirty-five 
negroes,  horses,  cattle,  and  furniture,  fell  into  Whig  hands. 

Subsequently,  he  was  attached  to  the  Rangers,  and  won 
the  confidence  of  Simcoe,  and  of  the  corps.  Xear  the  close 
of  the  year  1778  he  resigned  ;  and  soon  after  went  to  Eng 
land.  While  there,  an  invasion  from  France  was  appre 
hended  ;  and  the  Loyalists  in  London  offered  to  form  them 
selves  into  a  company,  which  met  the  approval  of  the  King, 
and  in  the  choice  of  officers,  Major  Grymes  was  elected  en 
sign.  In  1788  he  was  agent  for  prosecuting  the  claims  of 
adherents  of  the  Crown  in  his  native  State.  He  returned  to 
Virginia.  In  England  he  married  a  daughter  of  John  Ran 
dolph,  the  last  Royal  Attorney-General  of  the  "  Old  Domin 
ion,"  and  brother  of  Peyton  Randolph,  President  of  Con 
gress.  Airs.  Grymes  died  in  London  in  1791. 

GRYMES,  HENRY.  Of  Virginia.  Went  to  England,  and 
died  there  in  1804.  Delirious,  in  consequence,  as  was  sup 
posed,  of  a  disappointment  in  marriage,  he  broke  his  skull 
with  a  stone,  and  took  out  a  piece  of  the  bone  three  inches 
by  two  ;  and,  concluding  that  this  would  put  an  end  to  his 
existence,  he  tore  out  a  part  of  his  brains.  But  he  lived  until 
the  evening  of  the  following  day,  and  his  reason  was  so  far 
restored  before  his  death  that  he  told  his  friends  the  cause 


GUEST.  —  II ABERSIIAM.  503 

of  his  mangled  condition.  "  Through  the  whole  of  his  life, 
he  supported  an  unsullied  character." 

GUEST,  WILLIAM.  Of  South  Carolina.  In  1770,  com 
mitted  to  jail  in  Charleston,  by  the  Provincial  Congress,  for 
alleged  offences  "  inimical  to,  and  destructive  of,''  the  peace 
of  that  Colony.  In  commission  of  the  Crown  after  the  sur 
render  of  Charleston.  Estate  confiscated  ;  but  the  General 
Assembly  gave  his  wife  Sarah  and  her  children,  subsequently, 
five  hundred  acres  of  any  of  his  lands  which  had  not  been  sold 
by  the  commissioners. 

GUTHREY,  THOMAS.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Deserted  from 
the  State  galleys.  Joined  the  British  in  Philadelphia.  Cap 
tured  at  sea.  In  prison  in  1770,  and  to  be  tried  for  treason. 

GUYON,  PETER.  Of  Staten  Island,  New  York.  At  the 
peace,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  five  persons,  and  by  one 
servant,  he  went  from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia. 
His  losses,  in  consequence  of  his  loyalty,  were  estimated  at 
<£1900.  He  was  among  the  few  who  remained  at  Shelburne, 
and  died  there  about  the  year  1825. 

H ABERSIIAM,  JAMES.     Of  Georgia.      He  was  born  in  En<>-- 

O  <T~» 

land  in  1712  ;  and,  against  the  wishes  of  his  friends,  accom 
panied  the  celebrated  Whitefield  to  Savannah,  in  1788.  He 
engaged  as  teacher  of  a  school  for  orphan  and  destitute  chil 
dren,  soon  after  his  arrival ;  and,  subsequently,  became  inter 
ested  in  similar  works  of  benevolence.  Of  the  Orphan  House 
he  was  President.  He  formed  a  commercial  partnership  in 
1744,  which  was  the  first  in  Georgia.  Ten  years  later,  he 
was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Colony,  and  a  member  of  the 
Council.  He  was  the  acting  Governor  of  Georgia  in  1771, 
during  the  temporary  absence  of  Sir  James  Wright.  In  April, 
1775,  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  London  thus:  —  "The  fiery 
patriots  in  Charleston  have  stopped  all  dealings  with  us,  and 
will  not  suffer  any  goods  to  be  landed  there  from  Great  Brit 
ain  ;  and  I  suppose  the  Northern  Provinces  will  follow  their 
example.  The  people  on  this  Continent  are  generally  almost 
in  a  state  of  madness  and  desperation  ;  and  should  not  concil 
iatory  measures  take  place  on  your  side,  I  know  not  what  may 


504  HADDEN.  — HAGGERTY. 

be  the  consequences.  I  fear  an  open  rebellion  against  the  par 
ent  State,  and  consequently  amongst  ourselves.  Some  of  the 
inflammatory  resolutions  and  measures  taken  and  published  in 
the  Northern  Colonies,  I  think,  too  plainly  portend  this.  How 
ever,  I  must  and  do,  upon  every  occasion,  declare  that  I  would 
not  choose  to  live  here  any  longer  than  we  are  in  a  state  of 
proper  subordination  to,  and  under  the  protection  of,  Great 
Britain,  although  I  cannot  altogether  approve  of  the  steps  she 
has  lately  taken,  and  do  most  cordially  wish  that  a  permanent 
line  of  government  was  drawn  and  pursued  by  the  mother 
and  her  children  ;  and  may  God  give  your  Senators  wisdom 
to  do  it,  and  heal  the  breach  ;  otherwise,  I  cannot  think  of  the 
event  but  with  horror  and  grief.  Father  against  son,  and  son 
against  father,  and  the  nearest  relations  and  friends  combating 
with  each  other  !  I  may  perhaps  say  the  truth,  cutting  each 
other's  throats.  Dreadful  to  think  of,  much  worse  to  experi 
ence.  But  I  will  have  done  with  this  disagreeable  subject," 
&c. 

He  went  to  New  Jersey  soon  after  writing  the  above  letter, 
and  died  at  New  Brunswick,  August,  1775.  The  three  sons 
who  survived  him  were  Wliio-s. 

<"•> 

HADDEN,  ISAAC.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  First 
Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  He  retired  on  half-pay, 
and  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  where  he  was  Clerk  of  the 
House  of  Assembly.  He  died  in  that  Colony. 

HADDEN,  -  — .  Major-General  in  the  Royal  Artillery. 
He  entered  the  army  during  the  war,  and  served  under  Bur- 
goyne  and  Cornwallis.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  England. 
In  1793,  when  a  captain  in  the  Artillery,  he  was  selected  by 
the  Duke  of  Richmond  for  his  secretary.  Subsequently,  he 
received  a  staff  appointment  ;  and,  in  Portugal,  acted  in  the 
capacity  of  Adjutant-General  under  Sir  Charles  Stuart. 
Later,  he  was  Surveyor-General  of  the  Ordnance  Depart 
ment,  and  Major-General.  He  died  in  England  in  1817. 

HAGGEHTY,  PATRICK.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
First  Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  At  the  peace  he 
went  to  Digby,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  soon  died,  leaving  no 
family. 


HAINS.  —  II ALIBURTON.  505 

I  FAINS,  BARTHOLOMEW.  Of  New  York.  Lost  his  prop 
erty  by  confiscation.  Settled  at  Westport,  Nova  Scotia, 
where  he  was  an  officer  of  the  Customs  and  a  magistrate, 

£3 

and  where  lie  died,  leaving  a  large  family,  of  whom   John  is 
now  (^I8l.)l)  the  only  survivor. 

HAIT,  JAMES.  Of  Connecticut.  At  the  peace  he  went  to 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  In 
1784  he  was  one  of  the  two  vendue  masters  of  the  district  of 
the  river  St.  John.  He  removed  from  that  Province  about 
the  year  ITl'l),  and  died  at  Newfield,  Connecticut,  in  1804. 

HAKK,  -  — .  He  was  in  England  in  1784,  when  his 
name  was  freely  used  in  Loyalist  tracts  published  at  London. 
I  cite  two  instances  :  —  There  were  "  fifty-five  signers  to  Mr. 
Hake's  Memorial  "  ;  he  was  "  loyal  to  get  rid  of  his  debts." 
The  charge  of  dishonesty  was  repelled  by  "  Viator  "  ;  who 
said  that  "  Mr.  Hake  owed  in  England,  and  not  in  America, 
and  if  he  had  a  design  against  his  creditors,  he  should  have 
joined  the  rebellion,"  &c. 

HALIBURTON,  JOHN.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Physician.  Went 
to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia.  During  the  Revolution,  a  surgeon 
in  the  British  Navy.  At  the  peace,  resumed  practice  and  ac 
quired  a  high  professional  reputation  ;  held  public  offices,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Council.  He  died  at  Halifax  in  1808, 
aged  sixty-nine.  His  wife,  Susanna,  who  deceased  in  1804, 
was  a  sister  of  Admiral  Brenton.  His  son,  John,  was  an  offi 
cer  in  the  British  Navy  ;  his  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married 
Lord  Stewart.  In  185U,  his  son,  Brenton  Haliburton,  who 
was  born  in  Rhode  Island,  —  Chief  Justice  of  Nova  Scotia, — 
received  the  honor  of  knighthood.  The  gentlemen  of  the  legal 
profession  at  Halifax  waited  upon  the  venerable  jurist,  then 
in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  in  a  body,  and  addressed  him  in  terms 
of  deep  affection.  His  reply  was  so  proper  that  I  preserve  it. 

"  iMij  Brethren  of  the  Bench  and  of  the  Bar: —  Accept  my 
heartfelt  thanks  for  the  kind  and  affectionate  address  which 
you  have  given  to  me  upon  her  Most  Gracious  Majesty's  con 
ferring  upon  me  the  dignity  of  a  Knight  of  the  United  King 
dom  of  G  reat  Britain  and  Ireland. 

VOL.    I.  43 


506  HALIBURTON.  —  HALL. 

"  Although  at  my  ago  I  ought  to  be,  and  I  humbly  trust  I 
am,  more  solicitous  to  obtain  the  blessed  promises  which  our 
oracious  Saviour  has  made  to  all  believers  in  his  Holy  Gos 
pel,  than  any  earthly  honors,  yet  I  value  highly  the  approba 
tion  of  a  Sovereign  esteemed  and  beloved  by  her  subjects  for 
her  public  and  private  virtues. 

"  To  our  respected  Governor,  His  Excellency  the  Earl  of 
Mulorave,  I  feel  great  gratitude  for  having,  totally  unsolic 
ited  by  me,  brought  my  services  under  Her  Royal  considera 
tion,  to  which  I  attribute  the  honor  that  has  been  conferred 
upon  me. 

"  I  consider  this  honor  as  paid  to  the  profession  to  which  I  be 
long,  and  it  greatly  increases  my  gratification  so  to  consider  it. 
u  I  am  much  indebted  to  my  brethern  of  the  Bench  for  the 
satisfaction  which  I  learn  my  judgments  have  given  ;  for,  gen 
erally  speaking,  it  is  with  their  concurrence  and  approval  that 
those  judgments  have  been  pronounced ;  and  I  am  sure  they 
will  join  with  me  in  declaring  that  the  labors  of  the  Bench 
have  frequently  been  greatly  diminished  by  the  industry  and 
talent  of  the  Bar. 

"  And  now,  gentlemen,  accept  of  an  old  man's  affectionate 
prayer  for  your  welfare.     May  you  at  the  close  of  life  feel  the 
great  comfort  of  having  made  your  peace  with  God  through 
the  merits  of  your  Saviour. 
uGod  bless  you  all." 

Sir  Brenton  died  at  Halifax  in  1860.  As  a  jurist  he  was 
able,  painstaking  and  conscientious;  as  a  man,  of  cheerful  dis 
position  and  great  liberality  of  opinion. 

HALL,  REV.  WILLARD.  Minister  of  Westford,  Massachu 
setts.  Graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1722.  Date  of 
ordination  not  ascertained.  Complaints  against  him  in  May, 
1775  ;  final  hearing  June  4,  1776,  before  the  Committees  of 
the  towns  of  Dunstable,  Littleton,  Westford,  and  Acton,  and 
the  decision,  that,  "in  divers  instances,  he  hath  shown  him 
self  unfriendly  to  the  cause  of  the  United  American  Colonies." 
The  affair  seems  to  have  caused  much  trouble ;  but  my  ma 
terials  are  too  fragmentary  for  a  narrative.  He  died  in  1779. 


HALL.— HALLET.  o07 

HALL,  -  — .'  Of  South  Carolina.  Lieutenant  in  the 
King's  Rangers.  A  Whig  at  first,  and  in  command  of  a  small 
fort  on  the  frontier  of  his  native  State,  which  he  treacherously 
surrendered  to  the  Cherokees,  who  killed  the  garrison,  men, 
women,  and  children,  without  discrimination.  In  177(J  Hall 
was  taken  prisoner,  tried,  and  condemned  to  death.  "At  the 
gallows  he  confessed  his  crime,  and  acknowledged  the  justice 
of  his  sentence." 

HALL,  JAMES.  Of  Boston.  His  name  is  connected  with 
one  of  the  memorable  incidents  of  the  Revolutionary  contro 
versy.  In  177o  he  was  in  command  of  the  ship  Dartmouth, 
owned  by  Francis  Rotch,  and  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  28th  of 
November,  with  one  hundred  and  twelve  chests  of  the  cele. 
brated  Tea,  which  was  thrown  overboard  in  the  following 
month  of  December.  The  next  year  he  was  an  Addresser  of 
Hutchinson,  and  in  1778  was  proscribed  and  banished.  The 
morning  after  Hall's  arrival  in  1778,  the  following  notice 
appeared  :  — 

"FRIENDS,  BRETIIERN,  COUNTRYMEN. 

"  That  worst  of  all  plagues,  the  detested  TEA,  shipped  for 
this  port  by  the  East  India  Company,  is  now  arrived  in  this 
harbor.  The  hour  of  destruction,  or  manly  opposition  to  the 
machinations  of  Tyranny,  stares  you  in  the  face.  Every 
friend  to  his  country,  to  himself,  and  to  posterity,  is  now  called 
upon  to  meet  at  Faneuil  Hall  at  nine  o'olock  this  day,  (at 
which  time  the  bells  will  ring,)  to  make  a  united  and  success 
ful  resistance  to  this  last,  worst,  and  most  destructive  measure 
of  administration. 

"  Boston,  November  29,  1773." 

Bruce,  in  the  Eleanor,  and  Coffin,  in  the  Beaver,  came  into 
port  soon  after  ;  and  the  mob,  disguised  as  Indians,  threw  the 
cargoes  of  the  three  vessels,  consisting  of  two  hundred  and 
forty  whole,  and  one  hundred  half  chests,  into  the  harbor. 

HALLET,  DANIKL.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  De  Lan- 
cey's  Second  Battalion.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  St.  John, 


508  HALLET.  —  H  ALLOWELL. 

New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  received 
half-pay.  He  died  in  the  county  of  York,  in  that  Province, 
1827,  aged  seventy-six. 

HALLET,  SAMUEL.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  In  1776, 
arrested,  and  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress.  Ordered 
back,  and  placed  under  guard  by  the  Convention  of  New 
York.  Petitioned  for  release,  and  finally  discharged  on  pa 
role,  on  payment  of  expenses,  and  on  recognizing  in  £500. 
In  1782  he  was  a  captain  in  De  Lancey's  Second  Battalion. 
He  settled  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  in  1784  received 
the  grant  of  a  city  lot.  In  1792  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Vestry  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Elizabeth,  his  widow,  died 
at  St.  John  in  1804,  aged  sixty-nine. 

HALLOWELL,  ROBERT.  Of  Boston.  Comptroller  of  the 
Customs.  In  office  early  in  life  ;  and  Collector  of  the  Cus 
toms  at  Portsmouth,  Newr  Hampshire,  before  the  age  of 
twenty-five.  He  arrived  at  Boston,  from  London,  in  1764, 
and  entered  upon  his  duties  as  Comptroller.  The  next  year,  a 
mob  surrounded  his  elegant  house  in  Hanover  Street,  tore 
down  his  fences,  broke  his  windows,  and,  forcing  the  doors 
at  last,  destroyed  furniture,  stole  money,  scattered  books  and 
papers,  and  drank  of  the  wines  in  the  cellar  to  drunkenness. 
In  1768,  he  ordered  Hancock's  A^essel,  the  Liberty,  seized  for 
smuggling  wine,  to  be  removed  from  the  wharf  to  a  place 
covered  by  the  guns  of  the  Romney  frigate ;  and,  in  the 
affray  which  occurred,  received  wounds  and  bruises  that 
at  the  moment  seemed  mortal.  When  the  port  of  Boston 
was  shut,  June  1,  1774,  he  removed  his  office  to  Plymouth. 
In  1775,  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Gage  ;  and,  the  year  follow 
ing,  with  his  family  of  five  persons,  he  accompanied  the 
British  Army  to  Halifax.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and 
banished.  He  went  to  England,  and  settled  at  Bristol.  The 
executor  of  his  own  father,  and  of  his  wife's  father,  he  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1788  and  in  1790,  on  business.  In 
1792  he  removed  to  Boston  with  his  family  ;  and  lived  in 
the  homestead,  Batterymarch  Street,  which,  because  of  his 
mother's  life  interest,  had  not  been  confiscated.  He  was 


IIALLOWELL.  509 

kindly  received  by  former  friends,  and  became  intimate  with 
some  distinguished  Whigs.  In  181(3,  infirm  and  in  failing 
health,  he  went  to  Gardiner,  Maine,  to  reside  with  his  son  ; 
anil  died  there,  April,  1818,  in  his  seventy-ninth  year.  His 
wife  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Doctor  Sylvester  Gardiner. 
His  children  were  Hannah  and  Anne,  who  died  unmarried  ; 
and  Robert,  who,  in  1802,  added  the  name  of  his  maternal 
grandfather,  —  the  Hon.  Robert  Hallowell  Gardiner,  late  Pres 
ident  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society,  —  who  is  now  living 
(18G4)  and  a  gentleman  of  great  wealth  and  respectability. 
Two  of  Mr.  Hallowell's  sisters  died  in  England  ;  Sarah,  wife 
of  Samuel  Vaughan,  in  1809  ;  and  Anne,  widow  of  General 
Gould,  in  1812. 

HALLOWELL,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Boston.  Brother  of  the 
preceding.  Commissioner  of  the  Customs.  In  early  life  he 
commanded  a  small  armed  vessel.  The  Commissioners  were 
extremely  obnoxious ;  and  when  Mr.  Hallowell  accepted,  in 
addition,  the  office  of  Mandamus  Councillor,  he  became  a 
special  object  of  public  indignation.  To  mention  that,  in 
1774,  while  passing  through  Cambridge  in  his  chaise,  he  was 
pursued  toward  Boston  by  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  men 
on  horseback,  at  full  gallop,  is  sufficient  to  show  the  popular 
feeling.  In  August,  1775,  there  was  a  "street  fight  between 
Commissioner  Hallowell  and  Admiral  Graves,"  of  which  the 
newspapers  contain  the  details.  In  January,  1770,  he  wrote 
to  his  son,  Ward,  in  London,  —  "  Your  mother  has  sent 
Nickey's  little  spoon,  your  can,  and  a  pair  of  tea-tongs,  by 
Sir  William  Pepperell,  who  is  a  passenger  in  the  Trident 
transport."  On  the  10th  of  March  following,  Mr.  llallowell 
and  his  family  of  six  persons  embarked  for  Halifax  in  the 
Hellespont,  a  mere  victualler  to  the  British  fleet.  The  pas 
sage  was  only  six  days  ;  but  the  vessel  was  detained  in  Nan- 
tasket  Roads  just  three  weeks.  In  the  cabin,  by  his  own 
account,  there  were  thirty-seven  persons,  "  men,  women,  and 
children  ;  parents,  masters  and  mistresses,  obliged  to  pig 
together  on  the  Moor,  there  being  no  berths,"  until  they  de 
parted  the  harbor.  In  July,  177*),  he  sailed  for  England  in 
43* 


510  HALLOWELL. 

the  ship  Aston  Hall.     While  at  Halifax,  lie  said,  in  a  letter 
before  me  :   "  If  I  can  be  of  the   least  service  to  either  army 
or  navy,  I  will  stay  in   America  until   this  Rebellion  is  sub 
dued."       It  appears  from  another  letter  that    he  frequently 
tendered  himself  to  the  Commander-in-Chief,  without  success. 
In  1784,   Mrs.   Adams  was  in  England ;  and    she    relates 
that  both  Mr.  Hallowell  and  his  wife  treated  her  with  respect 
and   kindness,  and   urged  her   to   take   lodgings  with    them, 
which   she    declined.      She   records,  too,  that   they  lived    in 
handsome  style,  but  not  as    splendidly  as  when    in   Boston. 
She  accepted  an    invitation    to    "  an    unceremonious    family 
dinner,"  as  Mrs.   Hallowell  called  it,  and  met  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Walter,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  and    two    other   gentle 
men,    who    belonged    to    Massachusetts.     In  the  autumn  of 
1796,  Mr.  Hallowell  came  to  Boston.     He  was  accompanied 
by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Elmsley,  and  by  her  husband,  who  had 
just  been  appointed  Chief  Justice  l  of  Upper  Canada.     The 
party  were  the  guests  of  his  brother  Robert  until  early  in  the 
next  summer.     During  his  stay,   the  odium   which  attached 
to  his  official  relations  to  the   Crown  seemed  to  have    been 
forgotten,    since    he  was    received    by  his    former    associates 
with  the  greatest  kindness  and  hospitality.      He  died  at  York, 
Upper  Canada,  in  1799,  aged  seventy-five,  and  was  the  last 
survivor  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners.    The  British  Govern 
ment  granted  him  lands  in  Manchester,  and  two  other  towns 
in   Nova  Scotia,  and   a   township   in    Upper   Canada,    which 
bears  his  name.     He  was  a  large  proprietor  of  lands  on  the 
Kennebec,   Maine,  prior  to  the  Revolution  ;    but  proscribed 
and  banished  in   1778,  and  included  in  the   Conspiracy  Act 
a  year  later,  his  entire  estate  was  confiscated.      His  country 
residence  at  Jamaica  Plain    was   used  as   a  hospital  by  the 
Whig  Army  during  the  siege  of  Boston  ;  and  his  pleasure- 
grounds  were    converted    into  a  place  of   burial  for  soldiers 
who  died.      This  property  was  seized  and  sold  by  the  Com- 

1  John  Elmsley,  Chief  Justice  of  Lower  Canada,  died  at  Montreal,  in 
1805,  in  his  forty -third  year.  The  Duke  of  Portland  was  his  friend  and 
patron. 


HAMILTON.  511 

monwealtli  ;  but  as  the  fee  was  in  Mrs.  Hallowell,  her  lieirs 
SUCH!  to  recover  of  tlie  person  who  held  under  the  deed  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Confiscation,  and  obtained  judgment  in 
1808,  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court. 

For  Mr.  IlallowelFs  two  sons,  see,  in  these  paoes,  Sir 
Benjamin  Hallowell  Carcw,  and  Ward  Nicholas  Boylston. 

HAMILTON,  JOHN.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Commandant  of 
the  North  Carolina  Volunteers.  By  one  account,  he  was  a 
merchant  of  Halifax,  North  Carolina;  by  another,  he  lived 
at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  where  his  hospitality  and  other  estimable 
qualities  won  universal  respect.  Business  led  him  often  from 
home,  and,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  his  acquaint 
ance  at  the  South  was  extensive,  and  the  confidence  in  his 
integrity  almost  unlimited.  A  distinguished  Whig,  who  met 
him  in  battle,  remarks  that  Colonel  Hamilton  was  a  Loyalist, 
because  he  believed  England  in  the  right  ;  that  the  native 
goodness  of  his  heart,  as  well  as  motives  of  policy,  led  him  to 
discountenance  the  war  of  extermination  which  was  wao-ed 

O 

in  the  Carolinas  ;  and  that  his  influence  was  ever  exerted 
on  the  side  of  mercy.  The  biographer  of  Judge  Iredell  says 
that  "  He  so  deported  himself  to  such  Whigs  of  North 
Carolina,  as  by  the  fortune  of  war  became  objects  of  charity, 
as  to  secure  the  cordial  regard  of  the  best  men  in  the  ranks 
of  his  enemies  ;  "  and  adds,  that  "  He  was  the  very  crest  of 
Tory  organization  in  the  South."  Such  is  the  testimony  of 
his  foes  ;  and  I  delight  to  record  it.  Stedman,  who  served 
under  Sir  William  Howe,  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  the  Mar 
quis  of  Cornwallis,  and  who  wrote  "  The  History  of  the 
Origin,  Progress  and  Termination  of  the  American  War," 
uses  these  emphatic  words  :  "  The  British  nation  owed  more, 
perhaps,  to  Colonel  Hamilton,  of  the  North  Carolina  Regi 
ment,  than  to  any  other  individual  Loyalist  in  the  British 
service."  He  was  engaged  in  nearly  every  action  in  the 
three  Southern  Colonies  ;  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner; 
and  finally  placed  in  command  of  the  garrison  at  St.  AIKHIS- 

•/I  O  O 

tine. 

North  Carolina  and  Virginia  attainted   him  of  treason,  and 


512  HAMILTON. 

confiscated  his  estates.  After  the  peace  lie  was  British 
Consul  for  the  last  named  State,  and  lived  at  Norfolk.  I 
find  him  in  communication  with  his  Government  for  the  last 
time  in  1794,  when  some  French  ships-of-war  in  Hampton 
Roads  had  captured  the  Scorpion,  and  he  was  endeavoring 
to  obtain  the  release  of  several  gentlemen  who  were  prisoners. 
In  the  same  year,  his  agent  at  London,  in  behalf  of  the  firm 
of  which  he  was  a  member,  presented  a  memorial  to  the 
British  Government  on  the  subject  of  debts  due  in  America 
at  the  time  of  his  banishment,  which  had  not  been  recovered, 
and  prayed  for  relief.  He  died  in  England,  in  1817,  at  a 
very  advanced  age.  He  is  described  as  "a  short,  stout,  red- 
faced  man  ;  well  bred,  and  well  fed,"  and  "  of  high  tone  and 
spirit." 

HAMILTON,  JAMES.  Of  Pennsylvania.  In  1777,  a  pris 
oner  on  parole.  In  a  communication  to  the  Council,  he  rep 
resented  his  advanced  age  ;  a  disorder  which  was  the  source 
of  much  discomfort ;  his  extensive  concerns,  which  required 
his  constant  care,  &c.,  as  reasons  why  he  should  be  permitted 
to  remain  in  his  own  house  ;  and  he  asked,  that,  in  case  of 
his  removal,  he  might  be  allowed,  among  other  things,  to 
appoint  his  nephew,  William  Hamilton,  to  manage  his  affairs 
during  his  absence.  The  Council,  in  reply,  suggested  Easton, 
Bethlehem,  or  Reading,  for  his  retreat  ;  and  said  that  there 
were  unanswerable  objections  to  his  proposition  as  related  to 
his  nephew.  In  March,  1778,  he  was  under  restraint  at 
Northampton  ;  and  in  a  long  communication,  in  which  he 
spoke  of  his  losses,  the  absence  from  his  nearest  friends,  his 
age,  and  the  alarming  condition  of  his  health,  he  solicited 
leave  to  return  to  his  family.  The  boon  was  soon  granted. 
On  the  23d  of  April,  an  order  passed  the  Council  for  his 
discharge  ;  and  he  was  informed  that  lie  was  at  full  liberty  to 
act  as  he  pleased.  In  May,  he  applied  for  a  pass  not  only  for 
himself  and  four  servants,  but  for  a  baggage-wagou  and 
driver  to  go  to  Philadelphia,  which  was  refused  ;  because  he 
had  not  taken  an  oath  or  affirmation  to  support  the  Whig 
Government ;  and  because  he  had  asked  to  take  property 


HAMILTON.  f>13 

within  the  British  lines.  But,  as  related  to  his  own  person 
and  his  ailments,  he  was  furnished  with  a  protection  to  visit 
Philadelphia  to  consult  a  physician  ;  and  allowed  to  remain 
there  two  weeks. 

HAMILTON,  WILLIAM.  Of  Pennsylvania.  •  lie  was  pro 
prietor  of  the  principal  part  of  the  site  of  the  city  of  Lan 
caster,  in  that  State.  This  land  escaped  confiscation,  and 
ground-rents,  to  a  considerable  extent,  are  yet  (1841))  claimed 
and  collected  under  his  title.  The  Courts  have  acknowledged 
the  validity  of  the  call  upon  occupants  for  the  rents,  but 
there  exists  much  unwillingness  to  pay  them,  and  efforts  have 
been  made  to  avoid,  or  to  commute  them.  The  original 
proprietor  of  Lancaster  was,  I  suppose,  James  Hamilton. 
Witham  Marshe  was  there  in  1T44,  with  the  commissioners 
of  various  Colonies,  who  were  sent  to  form  a  treaty  with  the 
Six  Nations,  and  recorded  in  his  journal  that  this  gentleman 
u  made  a  ball  and  opened  it,  by  dancing  two  minuets  with 
two  of  the  ladies  here,  which  last  danced  wilder  time  than 
any  Indians."  Mr.  Hamilton  raised  a  regiment  in  the 
neighborhood  of  his  residence  on  the  Schuylkill ;  but  re 
signed  at  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was  a 
gentleman  of  wealth,  and  the  family  to  which  he  belonged 
possessed  more  influence  than  any  other  in  the  Colony,  except 
the  "  Aliens."  His  beautiful  country  seat  was  called  the 
"Woodlands."  Isaac  Ogden  wrote  Galloway,  in  1778, — 
"  Billy  Hamilton  had  a  narrow  escape  ;  his  trial  for  treason 
against  the  States  lasted  twelve  hours.  I  have  seen  a  gentle 
man  who  attended  his  trial  ;  he  informed  me  that  his  ac 
quittal  was  owing  to  a  defect  of  proof  of  a  paper  from  Lord 
Cornwallis,  his  direction  being  torn  off."  He  was  in  jail  in 
Philadelphia,  October  22d,  1780;  at  which  date  he  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  President  of  the  Council  praying  to  be  released. 

HAMILTON,  ARCHIBALD.  Of  Queen's  County,  New  York. 
In  June,  1770,  he  declared  upon  his  honor  that  he  would  not 
"directly  or  indirectly  oppose  or  contravene  the1  measures  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  or  of  the  Congress  of"  New  York. 
He,  however,  became  an  active  friend  of  the  Crown,  and 


514  HAMILTON. 

aide-de-camp  to  General  Robertson,  and  commandant  of  the 
militia  of  Queen's  County,  with  the  pay  of  the  army.  In 
December,  1780,  his  house,  at  Flushing,  New  York,  was 
burned  to  the  ground,  together  with  the  "  elegant  furniture, 
stock  of  provisions,  various  sorts  of  wines,  spirits  intended  for 
the  regale  of  his  numerous  friends,  the  military  and  other 
gentlemen  of  the  neighborhood."  His  command  consisted 
of  seventeen  companies.  His  name  heads  the  Address  to 
General  Robertson,  when  he  succeeded  Try  on,  as  Governor 
of  New  York.  Colonel  Hamilton  had  the  care  of  the  two 
daughters  of  the  Hon.  Captain  Napier,  of  the  80th  Grena 
diers,  on  the  death  of  their  mother,  in  1780  ;  his  own  wife, 
Alice,  granddaughter  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Golden,  died 
the  same  year.  The  Colonel  sailed  for  England,  December 
81,  1788  ;  and  the  Miss  Hamiltons  embarked  for  London, 
October,  1788.  He  died  at  Edinburgh  in  1795.  A  son  en 
tered  the  British  Army  in  the  West  Indies. 

HAMILTON,  PAUL,  SEN.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
An  Addresser  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  in  1780.  Was  banished 
in  1782,  and  his  property  confiscated.  He  went  to  England 
before  the  peace,  and  died  at  Pentonville  in  1797,  in  his  sev 
enty-second  year.  The  simple  record  is  :  :i  He  lost  a  very 
considerable  fortune,  and  endured  many  hardships  for  his 
loyalty." 

HAMILTON,  WILLIAM.  Of  North  Carolina.  Captain  in 
the  corps  of  Volunteers.  Went  to  England  at  the  peace. 
Died  in  Scotland  in  1834. 

HAMILTON,  ANDREW.  Taken  up  at  Kennebec,  Maine,  on 
suspicion  of  affording  supplies  to  the  enemy.  In  August, 
1775,  his  case  was  examined  by  the  General  Court  of  Massa 
chusetts;  and  an  order  passed,  that  —  as  he  appeared  to  be  a 
crafty,  designing  fellow,  had  formerly  held  a  commission  under 
the  Crown,  and  had  been  very  officious  in  prying  into  the 
management  of  public  affairs  —  he  be  "sent  to  Springfield 
jail,  to  have  the  liberty  of  the  yard  during  good  behavior, 
otherwise  to  be  put  under  close  confinement,"  &c. 

HAMILTON,  THOMAS.  Of  Virginia.  Planter.  Died  in 
England  in  1781. 


I1AMM.  —  HANCOCK.  415 

HAMM,  ANDKKW.  Died  in  Westfield,  New  Brunswick, 
181(j,  aged  sixty-two. 

HAMMKLL,  -  — .  An  officer  of  the  American  service, 
and  brigade-major  to  General  James  Clinton.  He  was  taken 
prisoner  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  entered  into  treasonable 
designs  against  his  former  friends.  By  the  confession  of 
Geake,  a  confederate,  who  was  arrested,  he  was  promised,  for 
his  defection  to  the  Whigs,  the  office  of  Colonel  of  a  new 
Irish  regiment,  to  be  raised  from  deserters  from  the  Amer 
ican  Army,  and  such  others  as  could  be  enlisted. 

HANCOCK,  THOMAS.  Bookseller,  and  subsequently  a  mer 
chant  of  Boston.  Was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Hancock, 
of  Lexington,  Massachusetts.  Relinquishing  his  business  of 
binding  and  selling  books,  he  turned  his  attention  to  merchan 
dise,  generally,  and  became  one  of  the  principal  commercial 
characters  of  New  England.  He  acquired  a  large  fortune, 
and,  having  no  children,  bequeathed  the  greater  part  of  his 
estate  to  his  nephew,  John  Hancock,  who  occupies  a  conspic 
uous  rank  among  the  Whigs  of  the  Revolution.  Among  his 
other  bequests  was  that  of  £1000,  for  the  purpose  of  found 
ing  a  professorship  of  Hebrew  and  other  Oriental  languages 
at  Harvard  University.  He  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  of  the  Council  of  Massachusetts.  While 
going  into  the  Council-chamber,  on  the  1st  of  August,  1704, 
he  was  seized  with  apoplexy,  and  died  the  same  day,  aged 
sixty-two  years.  He  had  the  character  of  benevolence,  and 
of  liberal  religious  and  political  sentiments.  lie  was  always 
on  the  side  of  Government  ;  and  though  his  death  occurred 
early  in  the  controversy,  party  lines  were  as  well  defined  in 
Massachusetts  in  his  time  as  afterwards.  Hutchinson  sets 
the  sum  which  he  left  his  nephew  at  more  than  £50,000  ster 
ling  ;  besides  the  reversion  of  £20,000  after  the  decease  of 
his  widow.  From  the  same  authority,  it  would  seem  that  a 
considerable  proportion  of  his  property  was  acquired  in  the 
Dutch  tea  trade,  which,  under  the  British  navigation  laws, 
was  illicit;  and  from  supplying  the  officers  of  the  army,  ord 
nance,  and  navy. 


516  HANFO11D.  —  HARDY. 

HANFORD,  THOMAS.  Of  Connecticut.  At  the  peace  lie 
went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that 
city.  He  became  an  eminent  merchant.  In  1795  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Loyal  Artillery.  He  died  at  St.  John  in  1826, 
aged  seventy-three.  Ann,  his  widow,  survived  several  years, 
and  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight. 

HANKS,  JOHN.  Of  New  Jersey.  A  man  of  whom  it  is 
said  :  "  He  was  worse  than  Satan  himself."  He  was  brought 
up  by  a  Whig  of  the  name  of  Beesley,  who  was  his  benefac 
tor,  and  who,  in  the  Revolution,  had  a  son  in  the  militia. 
This  son,  Hanks  saw  engaged  with  a  person  of  his  own  polit 
ical  sympathies,  and  rushed  towards  him  to  slay  him.  The 
young  Whig,  in  piteous  tones,  reminded  the  Tory  of  their 
former  relations,  and  begged  him  to  spare  his  life.  Hanks, 
deaf  to  the  appeal,  sternly  replied  that  because  of  that  very 
intimacy  he  meant  to  kill  him,  and  immediately  stabbed  him. 
The  youth  lived  long  enough  to  tell  his  tale  to  friends  who 

f  iT?  C> 

soon  came  to  the  spot. 

HAPPIE,  GEORGE.  Of  Duchess  County,  New  York.  He 
arrived  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  with  his  wife,  in  the 
spring  of  1T8-3,  in  the  ship  Union. 

HARDENBROOK,  THEOPHTLUS.  Of  New  York.  u  We  had 
some  grand  toory  rides  in  this  city  this  week,'"  wrote  Peter  Elt- 
ing,  June  13, 1776.  "  Yesterday,  several  of  them  ware  handled 
verry  roughly  being  caried  trugh  the  streets  on  rails,  there 
cloaths  tore  from  there  becks  and  there  bodies  pritty  well 
mingled  the  dust."  Hardenbrook  was  one  of  the  victims. 
"  There  is  hardly  a  toory  face  to  be  seen  this  morning," 
said  Elting,  in  continuation. 

HARDENBROOK,  JOHN.  Of  New  York.  An  assistant  al 
derman  of  the  city.  In  1776,  an  Addresser  of  Lord  and  Sir 
William  Howe. 

HARDING,  WILLIAM.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
in  178:->,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  died  there,  in 
1818,  aged  seventy-three. 

HARDY,  ELIAS.  He  settled  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  profession  of  the  law.  While  at 


HARE.  —  HARPER.  517 

the  bar,  General  Arnold  sued  IToyt,  liis  former  partner,  for 
slander,  and  for  saying  that  the  traitor  burned  his  warehouse, 
in  order  to  defraud  the  company  that  had  underwritten  upon 
the  property ;  and  Mr.  Hardy  was  retained  as  Hoyt's  counsel. 
Arnold's  side  of  the  case  was  managed  by  the  first  Ward 
Chipman,  and  Jonathan  Bliss,  both  of  whom  were  subsequent 
ly  on  the  Bench  of  New  Brunswick.  The  jury  returned  a 
verdict  of  two  shillings  and  sixpence  damages.  A  gentleman 
who  heard  the  trial  assures  me  that  the  public  at  the  time, 
and  that  Arnold's  own  counsel,  entertained  no  doubt  of  his 
guilt.  In  1792  Mr.  Hardy  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Assembly.  He  died  at  St.  John  soon  after,  as  papers  which 
relate  to  the  administration  of  his  estate  bear  the  date  of  1799. 

HAKE,  LIEUTENANT  -  — .  Of  New  York.  Entered  the 
service  of  the  Crown,  and  was  engaged  in  the  bloody  border 
affrays  with  Brant  and  the  Johnsons.  In  1779  he  was  seized 
by  the  Whigs,  tried  by  a  court-martial,  convicted  and  hanged. 
General  Schuyler  said,  "  In  executing  Hare,  we  have  rid  the 
State  of  the  greatest  villain  in  it."  General  Clinton  remarked 
that  his  death  gave  entire  satisfaction  to  all  the  inhabitants  in 
the  region  where  his  infamous  deeds  were  committed. 

HARPER,  JAMES.  Of  Newtown,  Queen's  County,  New 
York.  He  was  born  in  Ipswich,  England,  and  emigrated  to 
America  ten  or  fifteen  years  before  the  Revolution.  Well 
educated,  he  was  at  first  a  teacher,  but  finally  settled  as  a 
farmer.  During  the  war  he  was  not  active  ;  yet,  it  is  known 
that  his  sympathies  were  on  the  side  of  the  Crown.  He  re 
mained  in  the  country,  and  died,  I  conclude,  at  or  near  New- 
town.  His  character  commanded  universal  esteem.  His  wife 
was  of  one  of  the  most  respectable  families  of  Long  Island. 
His  son  James,  (father  of  Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers,)  who 
was  a  mere  lad  at  the  beginning  of  hostilities,  married  a  daugh 
ter  of  Jacobus  Kollyer,  who,  a  Whig,  "was  wounded  in  fight 
ing  for  his  country." 

The  four  brothers  —  grandsons  of  the  subject  of  this  notice 
—  who  compose  the  great  American  publishing-house,  were 
born  at  Newtown,  and  were  bred  printers.  James  and  John 

VOL.  i.  44 


518  HARPER.  —  HARRINGTON. 

served  their  time  in  different  offices  in  New  York.  Joseph 
Wesley  and  Fletcher  were  apprentices  to  their  elder  brothers, 
and,  on  coming  of  age,  were  admitted  partners.  In  1853,  the 
establishment  of  Harper  &  Brothers  was  burned,  with  a  loss 
of  81,000,000,  of  which  the  sum  of  $250,000  only  was  re 
imbursed  by  insurance.  Their  present  (1864)  business  edi 
fice,  which  is  fire-proof,  covers  about  half  an  acre  of  ground, 
and,  including  the  cellars,  is  seven  stories  high.  They  have 
in  use  forty-five  presses,  of  which  three  are  cylinder;  and  em 
ploy  six  hundred  persons,  of  whom  three  hundred  and  fifty  are 
males.  They  have  published  nearly  if  not  quite  two  thousand 
different  works.  Their  "  Harpers'  New  Monthly  Magazine  " 
was  first  issued  in  1850,  and  in  a  few  years  obtained  a  circula 
tion  of  one  hundred  and  seventy -five  thousand  copies.  Seven 
sons  of  the  four  brothers  have  been  trained  to,  and  are  engaged 
in  the  business  of  the  house. 

HARPER,  THOMAS.  He  was  banished  and  attainted,  and 
his  estate  was  confiscated.  In  a  memorial  dated  at  London, 
in  1794,  he  represented  to  the  British  Government  that  debts 
due  to  him  in  America,  at  the  time  of  his  banishment,  were 
still  unpaid,  and  he  desired  relief.  That  proscribed  Loyalists 
could  recover  sums  of  money  owing  to  them,  appears  to  have 
been  conceded  both  in  England  and  America,  and  several  de 
cisions  of  Courts  in  the  United  States  affirmed  the  opinion. 

HARPER,  ISAAC.  Of  Boston.  At  the  evacuation,  in  1776, 
he  remained  in  town.  Imprisoned,  he  petitioned  the  Council, 
in  October  of  that  year,  to  be  released.  He  could  not  tell,  he 
said,  why  he  was  confined,  except  that  some  malicious  person 
or  persons  had  procured  his  committal.  He  said  further  that 
he  was  languishing,  and  in  want  of  many  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  ;  that  his  wife,  daughter,  and  indeed  his  whole  family,  were 
sickly,  without  means  of  support,  and  would  soon  become  ob 
jects  of  great  distress. 

HARRINGTON,  REV.  TIMOTHY.  Of  Lancaster,  Massachu 
setts.  Congregational  minister.  Graduated  at  Harvard  Uni 
versity  in  1737,  and  after  a  brief  ministry  in  Swansey,  New 
Hampshire,  was  settled  at  Lancaster  in  1748.  It  is  related 


HARRIS.  -  HARRISON.  519 

that  before  the  Revolution,  he  used  to  pray  for  the  health  of 
"  our  excellent  King  George,"  like  other  good  subjects  ;  that 
after  the  war  began,  he  so  far  forgot  himself  one  Sunday  in  his 
pulpit  devotions  as  to  fall  into  his  old  form,  and  that  recollect 
ing  himself,  he  immediately  added  —  "  0  Lord,  I  mean  George 
Washington:'  It  is  related,  too,  that  in  1777  a  list  of  "  Tories," 
or  proscribed  persons,  was  posted  up  in  town-meeting  ;  that  his 
name  was  added,  on  motion  of  some  one  who  disliked  him  ; 
and  that  he  rose  up,  "  his  hairs  touched  with  silver,  and  his 
benignant  features  kindling  into  a  glow  of  honest  indignation, 
and,  baring  his  bosom  before  his  people,  he  exclaimed,  — 
"  Strike,  strike  here  with  your  daggers !  I  am  a  true  friend 
to  my  country."  That,  however,  he  was  opposed  to  the 
Whigs  is  not  disputed.  He  thought  separation  would  ruin 
the  Colonies.  He  is  represented  as  one  of  the  most  pure  and 
gentle-hearted  among  New  England  pastors  ;  as  a  scholar  of 
remarkable  attainments,  for  the  last  century  ;  as  possessed  of 
warm  and  Catholic  affect  ions  ;  as  a  man  extremely  prudent 
and  cautious  ;  and  as  sometimes  yielding  too  much  for  the  sake 
of  peace.  He  died  in  1705,  after  a  ministry  of  forty-seven 
years. 

HARRIS,  JOSEPH.  A  runaway  mulatto  slave,  belonging  to 
Mr.  Henry  King,  of  Hampton,  Virginia.  In  1775  he  gave  in 
formation  against  a  smuggling  schooner,  which  was  seized  in 
Cherry-stone  Creek,  and  on  being  threatened  with  death,  was 
recommended  to  Captain  Squew,  of  his  Majesty's  ship  Otter, 
and  Captain  Montague,  of  the  Foivey,  as  a  pilot.  Montague 
said  he  had  always  appeared  very  sober  and  prudent,  and  that 
he  was  a  freeman.  Harris,  it  seems,  had  been  a  pilot  in  the 
waters  of  Virginia,  but  was  driven  from  the  employment  after 
giving  intelligence  against  the  illicit  trader. 

HARRISON .  Major,  and  in  command  of  "  a  large 

body  of  Tories."  Marion  was  often  in  pursuit,  and  finally  at 
tacked  him.  In  the  battle,  Harrison  received  a  mortal  wound 
at  the  hands  of  Captain  Conyers. 

HARRISON,  THOMAS.  "  A  finished  villain,"  who  passed  by 
as  many  as  six  different  names.  While  under  sentence  of 


520  HARRISON.  -  HART. 

death  at  Boston,  and  the  clay  before  the  time  appointed  for 
his  execution,  May  21,  1778,  he  escaped.  He  had  been 
"  branded  "  on  the  forehead,  and  had  lost  both  ears  by  u  crop 
ping/'  and  wore  his  hair  in  a  manner  to  conceal  these  marks 
of  infamy.  He  was  soon  apprehended,  and  in  July  shot  on 
Boston  Common.  On  his  way  from  prison,  he  confessed  that 
his  life  had  been  atrociously  wicked,  but  refused  to  give  his 
real  name,  because  he  wished  to  conceal  his  fate  from  his 
friends.  He  said,  however,  that  his  initials  were  R.  I.,  and 
these  letters,  at  his  request,  were  placed  on  his  coffin.  His 
last  crime  was  desertion. 

HARRISON,  CHARLES.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  Second 
Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  At  the  peace  he  went 
to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city. 
He  received  half-pay.  He  was  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  mili 
tia  of  New  Brunswick.  His  fate  is  unknown.  The  late  Gen 
eral  William  Henry  Harrison,  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  a  relative. 

HARRISON,  RICHARD  ACK-LOM.  Of  Boston.  Son  of  the 
Collector  of  the  Customs.  In  1768,  in  the  affray  that  fol 
lowed  the  seizure  of  Hancock's  vessel  for  smuggling  wine,  he 
was  thrown  down,  dragged  by  the  hair  of  his  head,  and  very 
seriously  injured.  One  account  is  that  he  barely  escaped 
death. 

HARRISON,  JOSEPH.  Collector  of  the  Customs  at  Boston 
in  1768,  and  after  the  seizure  of  Hancock's  sloop  in  that  year, 
was  roughly  treated  by  the  mob,  and  pelted  with  stones.  The 
windows  of  his  house,  which  was  adjacent  to  the  Common, 
were  also  broken  ;  and  a  lar^e  pleasure-boat  belono-ino-  to  him 

C>        I  £3        C> 

was  dragged  through  the  streets  and  burned  near  his  residence, 
amidst  loud  shouts  and  huzzas.  Peter  Harrison  was  Collec 
tor  of  the  port  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  and  died  before 
June,  1775.  The  subject  of  this  notice  was  in  England,  in 
1777,  with  his  wife  and  daughter. 

O 

HART,  -  — .  Of  Duke's  County,  New  York.  He  was 
apprehended  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  May,  1777,  tried 
for  holding  a  commission  under  Sir  William  Howe,  and  for 


HARTSHORN.  -HATCH.  521 

recruiting  for  the  Royal  Army,  and  executed  the  second  day 
after  his  arrest. 

HARTSHORN,  LAWRENCE.  Of  Shrewsbury,  New  Jersey. 
Fled  to  New  York,  where  he  was  a  merchant,  and  where 
he  assisted  the  Royal  cause  by  communicating  important  in 
formation.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia, 
where  lie  resumed  business,  and  was  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Assembly  and  of  the  Executive  Council.  He  died  in  1822, 
aged  sixty-five.  His  son  Lawrence  is  now  (1861)  Treasurer 
of  the  city  of  Halifax. 

HARTWELL,  EDWARD.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts  in  1771  ;  and  Hutchinson  speaks  of 
him  as  one  of  those  on  the  ministerial  side,  who,  in  common 
times,  would  have  had  great  weight. 

HASELL,  JAMES.  A  member  of  his  Majesty's  Council  of 
North  Carolina.  In  March  of  1775  he  was  present  in  Council, 
and  advised  Governor  Martin  to  issue  his  Proclamation  against 
the  Whig  Convention  to  assemble  at  Newbern  on  the  follow 
ing  3d  of  April.  "  The  Board,"  says  the  record,  "  conceiving 
the  highest  detestation  of  such  proceedings,  were  unanimous 
in  advising  his  Excellency  to  inhibit  such  illegal  meetings." 
While  Governor  Martin  was  absent  at  New  York,  for  the  ben 
efit  of  his  health,  Mr.  Hasell,  as  President  of  the  Council, 
administered  the  government ;  but  with  less  energy  and  popu 
larity  than  the  Governor.  He  was  also  appointed  to  act  as 
Chief  Justice  during  the  absence  of  Judge  Howard. 

HASTINGS,  JOSEPH  STACY.  Of  New  Hampshire.  He  grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University  in  1762,  and  was  ordained  at 
North  Hampton  in  17(37.  After  a  few  years  he  embraced 
Sandemanianism,  and  resigned  his  ministerial  office  in  1774. 
He  went  to  Halifax,  but  returned  to  Boston,  where  he  kept  a 
grocery  store.  He  died  in  1807,  while  on  a  journey  to  Ver 
mont. 

HATCH,  NATHANIEL.  Of  Dorchester,  Massachusetts.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1742  ;  and,  subsequently, 
held  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  Courts.  In  1770  he  accom 
panied  the  British  troops  to  Halifax,  at  the  evacuation  of  Bos- 
44  * 


522  HATCH.  -  HATFIELD. 

ton.  In  1778  lie  was  proscribed  and  banished,  and  in  1779 
was  included  in  the  Conspiracy  Act,  by  which  his  estate  was 
confiscated.  He  died  in  1780. 

HATCH,  HAWES.  Of  Boston.  Brother  of  Christopher 
Hatch.  He  went  to  Halifax  with  the  Royal  Army  in  1776. 
In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  entered  the 
service,  and  in  1782  was  a  captain  in  De  Lancey's  Second 
Battalion.  He  retired  on  half-pay  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
and  was  a  grantee  of  the  city  of  St.  John.  For  some  years 
after  the  Revolution  he  lived  at  and  in  the  vicinity  of  East- 
port,  Maine.  He  died  at  Lebanon,  New  Hampshire,  in  1797. 

HATCH,  CIIKISTOPHER.  Of  Boston.  When  the  Royal 
Army  evacuated  that  town,  March,  1776,  cannon,  shot,  and 
shells  were  left  on  his  wharf,  and  in  the  dock.  In  1778  he 
was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  accepted  a  commission  un 
der  the  Crown,  and  was  a  captain  in  the  Loyal  American 
Regiment.  He  was  wounded,  and  commended  for  his  gal 
lantry.  At  the  peace  he  retired  on  half-pay,  (about  £80  per 
annum.)  He  was  a  grantee  of  the  city  of  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  but  soon  after  going  there  established  himself  as 
a  merchant  near  the  frontier,  and,  finally,  at  St.  Andrew, 
Charlotte  County.  He  was  a  magistrate,  and  colonel  in  the 
militia.  He  died  at  St.  Andrew,  1819,  aged  seventy.  Eliz 
abeth,  his  widow,  died  at  the  same  place,  1830,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-five.  His  son,  the  late  Harris  Hatch,  of  St.  Andrew, 
was  a  gentleman  of  consideration,  and  held  the  offices  of 
member  of  her  Majesty's  Council,  Commissioner  of  Bank 
ruptcies,  Surrogate,  Registrar  of  Deeds,  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education,  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  militia,  and  Judge  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

HATFIELD,  ISAAC.  Of  New  York.  He  was  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  and  Commandant  of  the  Loyal  Westchester  Volun 
teers.  In  January,  1780,  at  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  a  party  of  Whigs  attacked  him,  and  drove  him  and  his 
men  into  his  quarters,  when,  from  the  chambers  and  other 
rooms,  they  kept  up  a  fire  upon  their  assailants,  until  a  straw 
bed  was  set  in  flames.  As  the  building  burned,  the  inmates 


HATFIELD.  523 

escaped  at  the  windows.  The  Colonel,  three  of  his  officers, 
and  eleven  privates,  were  taken  prisoners.  At  the  peace  he 
went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that 
city,  lie  subsequently  settled  in  Digby,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
lived  there  thirty-six  years,  until  his  decease.  lie  died  in 
1822,  aged  seventy-four. 

HATFIELD,  DANIEL.  In  1783  was  a  grantee  of  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick.  Mary,  his  widow,  died  at  Springfield,  in 
that  Province,  in  1848,  aged  ninety-one. 

HATFIELD,  ABRAHAM.  Of  Westchester  County,  New 
York.  The  Loyalists  who  adopted  the  Protest  against  Whig 
Congresses  and  Committees,  and  pledged  their  lives  and  prop 
erties  to  support  the  King  and  Constitution,  April,  1775,  met 
at  his  house.  A  correspondent  remarks  that  he  probably  died 
on  his  farm,  at  White  Plains,  early  in  the  war.  ^Gilbert,  his 
oldest  son,  died  at  the  same  place  about  the  year  1828, 

HATFIELD,  DAVID.  Of  New  York.  He  went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1783,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
city.  He  used  to  relate  that  in  1784  he  sold  a  city  lot  and  a 
log-house  for  four  dollars  ;  that  some  lots  the  same  year  sold 
for  only  one  dollar ;  others  for  a  jug  of  rum  ;  and  that  the 
highest  sum  paid  for  choice  money  in  King  Street  was  but 
twenty  dollars.  Mr.  Hatfield  established  himself  in  business, 
and  for  half  a  century  was  a  principal  merchant.  He  died 
at  St.  John,  in  1843,  aged  eighty.  Ann,  his  widow,  died  in 
1845,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  Recounting,  on  one  occa 
sion,  to  a  gentleman  of  Maine,  the  sufferings  and  difficulties 
of  himself  and  his  companions  in  exile  on  their  first  arrival 
in  St.  John,  he  was  asked  by  his  American  friend  why  he 
went  there.  He  straightened  himself  up,  and  with  emotion 
that  brought  tears  to  his  eyes,  replied,  "  For  my  loyalty,  sir  !  " 
and  in 'a  moment  added:  "  Sir,  my  principles  are  as  dear  to 
me  as  yours  can  be  to  you." 

HATFIELD,—  — .  Of  New  Jersey.  Joined  the  British  ; 
and  in  1782  was  tried,  convicted  of  treason,  and  sentenced  to 
death.  His  case  caused  an  earnest  letter  from  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  to  Washington. 


524  HATFIELD. 

HATFIELD,  JOHN  SMITH.  Of  Elizabeth  town,  New  Jer 
sey.  He  joined  the  Royal  forces  at  or  in  the  vicinity  of  New 
York  in  1778,  and  by  his  course  of  conduct  subsequently 
involved  himself  in  much  misery.  One  infamous  act  is  well 
authenticated.  A  Tory,  sent  out  as  a  spy  by  the  British,  was 
taken  within  the  American  lines,  regularly  tried  by  a  court- 
martial,  found  guilty,  and  executed.  This  act  Hatfield  and 
some  other  Tories  determined  to  revenge,  by  retaliating  upon 
one  Ball,  who,  contrary  to  law,  was  in  the  habit  of  secretly 
supplying  the  British  camp  at  Staten  island  with  provisions. 
The  first  time  that  Ball  went  over  to  that  island,  after  the 
execution  of  the  spy,  (of  which  it  does  not  appear  that  he  had 
any  knowledge,)  he  was  seized  by  Hatfield,  against  the  ex 
press  orders  of  the  British  commanding  officer,  and  carried 
beyond  the*  British  lines,  where  Hatfield  hung  him  with  his 
own  hands.  The  British  officer  sent  a  message  to  the  Whio- 

o  & 

commander  in  the  vicinity,  disavowing  the  deed,  and  declaring 
that  those  alone  who  had  perpetrated  the  act  ought  to  suffer 
for  it. 

Some  time  after  the  war,  about  the  year  1788,  Hatfield 
returned  to  New  Jersey,  where  the  murder  of  Ball  was  com 
mitted,  and  was  arrested  and  imprisoned.  A  witness  at  the 
examination  testified  that  he  heard  Hatfield  say  that  u  lie 
had  hanged  Ball,  and  wished  he  had  many  more  Rebels,  as  he 
would  repeat  the  deed  with  pleasure  ; "  and  he  testified,  also, 
that  Hatfield  had  showed  him  the  tree  on  which  he  suspended 
Ball,  and  the  place  where  he  buried  his  victim.  While  Hat- 
field  was  in  jail  at  Newark,  his  debaucheries  were  excessive, 
and  nearly  cost  him  his  life.  He  was  put  upon  his  trial  at 
the  regular  term  of  the  Court  of  Bergen  County,  New  Jersey, 
but  no  witnesses  appeared  against  him,  and  he  was  released 
from  prison  on  bail,  when  he  immediately  fled,  and  never  re 
turned  to  the  State.  This  case  formed  a  subject  of  inquiry 
and  comment,  in  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Jefferson, 
Secretary  of  State,  and  Mr.  Hammond,  the  British  Minister, 
in  1792  ;  the  latter  adducing  the  proceedings  against  Hatfield 
as  one  of  the  alleged  infractions  of  the  treaty  of  peace. 


IIATFIELD.  —  HATHAWAY.  525 

HATFIELD,  CORNELIUS.  Of  New  Jersey.  Was  a  captain 
in  the  Royal  service,  and  engaged  in  predatory  excursions. 
Implicated  in  the  murder  of  Ball.  Fled  to  Nova  Scotia. 
Returned  to  New  Jersey  in  1807,  and  was  arrested. 

HATHAWAY,  EBENEZEII,  JR.  Of  Freetown,  Massachu 
setts.  He  was  proscribed  and  banished.  Entering  the  Royal 
service,  he  was  a  captain  ;  but  disagreeing  with  his  colonel, 
resigned  his  commission  on  the  promise  of  a  majority  in  a  new 
corps,  but  in  this  he  was  disappointed.  After  ascertaining 
that  he  was  not  likely  to  receive  employment  on  the  land,  he 
fitted  out  and  commanded  a  privateer.  While  thus  engaged 
he  was  captured,  and  with  his  officers  and  crew  confined  in 
Simsbury  Mines.  He  had  been  extremely  active  in  annoying 
the  Whigs,  and  having  excited  their  deepest  enmity,  was  tried 
for  his  life,  but  escaped  conviction.  His  most  celebrated  feats 
consisted  in  carrying  off  Committee-men,  and  he  frequently 
went  thirty  miles  in  boisterous  weather  to  capture  one  ;  and 
he  used  to  say  that  "  he  would  willingly  run  any  risk,  and 
incur  any  fatigue,  to  make  these  busy  and  troublesome  crea 
tures  his  prisoners."  He  endured  much  for  the  cause  of  the 
Crown,  but  was  unable  to  obtain  pecuniary  recompense,  and 
in  consequence  of  his  resignation  did  not  receive  a  pension. 
His  hardships  and  wounds  during  the  war  ruined  his  health. 
He  died  on  the  river  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  about  the 
year  1811,  aged  sixty-three.  Seven  sons  survived  him, 
namely  :  Ebenezcr,  Warren,  Calvin  Luther,  Charles  Reed, 
James  Gilbert,  Cushi,  and  Thomas  Gilbert.  His  wife  was 
of  Whig  principles,  and  remained  true  to  them  throughout 
her  life,  though  compelled  by  the  course  of  events  to  follow 
him  into  hopeless  and  interminable  exile.  One  of  her  sons, 
a  gentleman  of  wealth,  who  resides  (1847)  in  Ne\v  Bruns 
wick,  has  related  to  me  the  following  interesting  incident: 
"  My  father,"  said  he,  "  was  the  son  of  a  Tory  captain  ;  my 
mother,  the  daughter  of  a  Whig  major  ;  and  the  two  families 
were  thus  divided,  even  to  some  of  the  collateral  branches. 
The  political  discussions  were,  of  consequence,  frequent  and 
warm.  On  the  birth  of  one  of  my  brothers,  it  was  insisted, 


526  HATHAWAY.  —  HAZARD. 

on  the  one  side,  that  he  should  receive  a  Whig,  and  on  the 
other,  a  Tory  name.  Neither  party  would  yield,  and  after 
many  disputes,  my  father  proposed  to  take  the  Bible,  and  give 
the  child  the  first  proper  name  he  should  see  on  opening  it. 
This  was  assented  to  ;  the  name  happened  to  be  Cushi,  and 
Cuslii  was  my  brother  called  during  his  life." 

HATHAWAY,  SHADRACH,  and  CALVIN.  Of  Freetown,  Mas 
sachusetts.  Were  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778.  They 
both  died  in  exile  ;  the  former  during  the  war,  on  Long  Isl 
and,  New  York. 

HATHAWAY,  LUTHER.  Of  Freetown,  Massachusetts. 
Brother  of  Ebenezer  Hathaway.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed 
and  banished.  He  was  in  the  Royal  service  as  lieutenant  of 
a  corps  called  the  Loyal  New  Englanders.  He  settled  in 
Nova  Scotia,  and  died  at  Cornwallis  in  1833. 

HAWXHURST,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  York.  Merchant,  "  deal 
ing  in  pig-iron,  anchors,  potash,  kettles,  negro  wenches  and 
children,  horses,"  &c.  In  1776  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Lord 
and  Sir  William  Howe. 

HAY,  JOHN.  Of  Massachusetts.  Died  at  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  in  1812,  at  the  age  of  forty-three. 

HAYES,  JOHN,  and  WILLIAM.  Of  New  York.  John  was 
seized  at  Long  Island,  in  1775,  sent  to  Massachusetts,  and 
confined  within  the  limits  of  the  town  of  Lunenburg.  At 
the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  three  persons,  he 
went  from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he 
was  living  about  the  year  1805.  William,  with  a  family  of 
six,  went  to  the  same  place  at  the  same  time. 

HAYTER,  WILLIAM.  At  the  peace  lie  went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  died 
there  in  1817,  aged  eighty-eight  years. 

HAZARD,  THOMAS.  Of  Rhode  Island.  A  merchant  of 
wealth.  He  abandoned  home,  fled  to  the  British,  and  in 
17cS2  was  in  New  York.  His  wife  Eunice,  with  seven  young 
children,  were  reduced  to  great  distress  ;  and,  on  petition  for 
relief,  the  General  Assembly  directed  that  the  rents  of  a  part 
of  his  property  should  be  paid  to  her.  His  estate  was  confis- 


IIAZEN.— HEAD.  527 

cated  ;  but,  had  he  not  "  indignantly  refused  to  make  a  sat 
isfactory  submission,'*  it  might  have  been  restored.  He  went 
to  England  in  1785  ;  and  the  British  Government,  in  con 
sideration  of  his  loyalty  and  sacrifices,  granted  him  five  thou 
sand  acres  of  land  in  New  Brunswick.  He  died  aged,  at  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1804. 

The  name  of  Thomas  was  so  common  in  the  Hazard  family, 
that  each  one  who  bore  it  had  a  particular  appellation,  of  ne 
cessity  ;  and  Updike  has  a  pleasant  story  on  the  subject. 
Thus, —  College  Tom  was  a  student ;  Bedford  Tom  lived  in 
New  Bedford  ;  Barley  Tom  boasted  of  the  barley  he  raised 
on  an  acre  ;  Virginia  Tom  married  in  Virginia ;  Little  Neck 
Tom  lived  on  a  Neck  so  called  ;  Nailer  Tom  was  a  black 
smith,  and  made  excellent  nails  ;  Rock  Tom  occupied  the 
Rocky  farm  ;  Fiddle-head  Tom,  had  a  head  which  resembled 
a  Dutch  fiddle  reversed  ;  Pistol  Tom,  was  wounded  by  the 
explosion  of  a  pistol  ;  Derrick  Tom,  used  the  word  derrick  as 
a  by-word,  &c.,  &c.  The  subject  of  the  above  notice  was 
Virginia,  Tom.  Thirty-two  "  Tom  Hazards  "  were  living  at 
one  time. 

HAZEN,  JOHN.  Removed  from  Massachusetts  to  New 
Brunswick  in  1775.  He  became  a  magistrate,  and  died  in 
the  county  of  Sunbury  in  1828,  aged  seventy-three. 

HEAD,  SIR  EDMUND,  Baronet.  He  was  banished,  and  his 
estate  was  confiscated.  In  1794  he  applied  to  the  British 
Government,  in  a  petition  dated  at  London,  to  interpose  for 
the  recovery  of  some  large  debts  due  to  him  in  America  at 
the  time  of  his  banishment.  His  father  was  a  merchant  of 
London.  He  died  in  1796  ;  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
John,  Rector  of  Raleigh  in  Sussex,  and  Curate  of  Egerton, 
Kent,  who  married  Jane,  only  child  and  heiress  of  Thomas 
Walker,  and  died  in  1838.  Sir  Edmund  Walker  Head, 
third  Baronet,  who  was  born  in  1805,  married  a  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Philip  Yorke,  followed  Sir  William  Colebrook 
(1848)  as  Lieu  tenant-Governor  of  New  Brunswick,  and 
is  now  (1860)  Governor-General  of  British  America,  is  the 
son  of  Sir  John  and  Lady  Jane.  The  first  wife  of  the  first 


528  HEAD.-HELME. 

Baronet  was  ]\Iaiy,  only  daughter  of  Daniel  Raineaux,  of 
Dublin  ;  the  second,  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Maximilian  West 
ern,  of  Coke  Thorpe,  County  of  Oxford. 

HEAD,  FREDERICK.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  A 
prisoner  prior  to  August,  1779.  While  deprived  of  his 
liberty,  his  house  was  plundered  four  times  ;  the  last  ma 
rauders  took  clothing  and  provisions  to  the  value  of  X200. 

HEATH,  ANDREW.  Of  Germantown,  Pennsylvania. 
Dressed  in  a  green  uniform,  and  thus  intending  probably  to 
escape  detection,  he  acted  as  a  guide  to  the  Royal  Army, 
previous  to  the  battle  there  ;  and  absented  himself  until  the 
peace. 

HECHT,  FREDERICK  WILLIAM.  Of  New  York.  Lived  on 
Queen  (now  Pearl)  Street.  In  1776,  an  Addresser  of  Lord 
and  Sir  William  Howe  ;  and  commissioned  the  same  year  a 
captain  in  the  Royal  service.  By  birth  a  German. 

HEDGE,  REV.  LEMUEL.  Of  Warwick,  Massachusetts. 
Conoreo-ational  minister.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  Univer- 

&      c?  o 

sity  in  1759,  and  was  ordained  the  following  year.  In  1775 
he  was  disarmed,  and  ordered  to  confine  himself  to  Warwick. 
He  died  at  Hardwick,  in  1777,  in  the  forty-fourth  year  of  his 
age,  of  a  fever,  which,  as  is  said,  was  caused  by  the  excite 
ment  and  fatigue  endured  by  him  when  in  the  hands  of  a 
lawless  band  of  thirty  or  forty  persons,  who  seized  him,  and 
carried  him  to  Northampton.  Joseph  Warren  was  his  class 
mate  and  friend ;  and  Holland  relates  that  the  Whig  had  in 
his  pocket,  when  he  fell  on  Bunker's  Hill,  a  letter  u  from  Mr. 
Hedge,  in  which  he  professed  a  sincere  interest  in  the  liberty 
of  his  country,  although  he  admitted  his  doubts  in  regard  to 
the  issue  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle." 

HELME,  JAMES.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly 
in  1707,  or  the  year  preceding.  Rome,  in  his  celebrated 
letter,  affects  to  believe  that  he  was  the  only  upright  man 
on  that  Bench  ;  and  predicted,  that,  "  For  his  honesty  and 
candor,  I  am  persuaded  he  will  be  deposed  at  the  next  elec 
tion,  unless  they  [the  Whigs,  I  suppose]  should  be  still  in 


HELMER.  -  HENLEY.  529 

hopes  of  making  a  convert  of  him."  He  remained  in  office 
until  the  Royal  Government  was  at  an  end.  He  died  at 
South  Kingston,  Rhode  Island,  in  1777.  His  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  Adam  Powell. 

HELMER,  —  — .  Of  Tryon  (now  Montgomery)  County, 
New  York.  He  accompanied  Sir  John  Johnson  to  Canada, 
when  the  Baronet  violated  his  parole  and  fled  ;  and  was  one 
of  the  party  who,  in  1778,  returned  to  Johnstown  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  some  of  Sir  John's  valuable  effects. 
While  bearing  off  the  iron-chest,  he  injured  his  ankle,  and 
was  compelled  to  go  to  his  father's  house,  where  he  remained 
concealed.  But  in  the  spring  of  1779  he  was  arrested  as  a 
spy,  tried,  and  sentenced  to  death,  chiefly  on  his  own  admis 
sions  to  the  Court. 

HEMEON.  Of  New  Jersey.  Four  went  from  New  York  in 
1788  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia :  namely,  Adam,  who  lost 
£600  by  his  loyalty,  and  who  had  a  family  of  ten  ;  George, 
of  whom  I  glean  nothing  ;  Henry,  whose  family  consisted  of 
five ;  and  Philip,  who  died  in  1837,  aged  eighty-nine.  A 
descendant  of  one  of  these  has  been  Mayor  of  Halifax. 

HENDERSON,  THOMAS.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in 
the  Loyal  American  Regiment.  He  went  to  New  Brunswick 
at  the  peace,  and  in  1808  lived  at  the  island  of  Campo-Bello, 
where  he  was  an  officer  of  the  Customs.  He  removed  to 
St.  Andrew,  in  the  same  Province,  and  died  there,  1828, 
aged  seventy-seven. 

HENEY,  JOSIAH.  Was  born  near  Portland,  Maine,  in 
1754,  and  died  at  Deer  Island,  New  Brunswick,  in  1836, 
aged  eighty-two  years.  He  went  to  Halifax  in  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  married  at  Windsor;  but  returned  to  Maine,  and 
resided  for  some  time  at  Castine.  Changing  his  abode  again, 
he  lived  at  the  place  where  he  deceased  about  forty  years. 
His  son  Archibald,  who  was  long  a  packet-master  between 
Eastport  and  St.  John,  died  at  Deer  Island  in  1848,  aged 
sixty-two,  leaving  a  wife  and  large  family.  Two  other  sons, 
Josiah  and  Henry,  are  now  (1850)  residents  of  that  island. 

HENLEY,   JAMES.     Of  Maryland.      In   1782    he   was    an 
VOL.  i.  45 


530  HENNIGAN.  —  HERON. 

ensign  in  the  Maryland  Loyalists,  and  adjutant  of  the  corps. 
He  retired  at  the  peace,  when  he  was  a  lieutenant,  on  half- 
pay.  In  1783  he  embarked  at  New  York  for  Nova  Scotia, 
with  a  part  of  his  own  regiment  and  a  part  of  the  second 
battalion  of  De  Lancey's  brigade,  in  the  transport  ship 
Martha,  and  was  wrecked,  near  the  end  of  the  passage,  off 
Tusket  River.  Of  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  men, 
women,  and  children,  sixty-five  were  saved.  Lieutenant 
Henley,  Lieutenant  Stirling,  and  Doctor  Stafford,  got  upon 
a  piece  of  the  wreck,  and  floated  at  sea  two  days  and  two 
nights,  nearly  to  the  waist  in  water,  during  which  time  Stir 
ling  perished.  On  the  third  day,  the  survivors  drifted  to  an 
island,  where  they  remained  seven  days,  poorly  clad,  and 
without  fire  and  food.  The  sixty-two  others  who  escaped, 
were  taken  from  rafts  by  four  fishing  vessels  which  belonged 
to  Massachusetts,  and  landed  at  Yarmouth,  Nova  Scotia. 

HENNIGAN.  Of  New  York.  Three  wrent  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  at  the  peace,  and  were  grantees  of  the  city  ; 
namely  :  Adam,  a  native  of  Germany,  and  his  two  sons,  Chris 
topher  and  Michael.  The  last  abandoned  property  in  New 
York  estimated  to  be  worth  X5000. 

HENNY,  —  — .  Captain  in  the  South  Carolina  Royalists. 
Killed  in  1779,  during  the  siege  of  Savannah. 

HEPBUKN,  JAMES.  Of  North  Carolina.  He  was  attached 
to  a  corps  of  Loyalists  as  secretary,  and  in  1776  was  taken 
prisoner  and  confined.  He  was  in  New  York  in  1782,  and 
a  notary-public. 

HEEKIMER,  COLONEL  HANJOST,  or  JOHN  JOOST.  Of 
New  York.  He  was  a  son  of  Johan  Jost  Herkimer,  one  of 
the  Palatines  of  the  German  Flats,  New  York  ;  and  a  brother 
of  the  Whig  General,  Nicholas  Herkimer.  He  served  in 
various  county  offices  until  the  Revolution.  His  property 
was  confiscated.  He  went  to  Canada,  and  died  there  before 
1787. 

HERON,  -  — .  Of  Reading,  Connecticut.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  and  of  the  County  Correspond 
ence,  as  late  as  April,  1780.  On  the  4th  of  September  of 


IIERSEY.  —  IIEWES.  531 

that  year,  he  went  to  New  York  with  a  flag  of  truce,  and 
while  there,  gave  "  information  "  to  the  Royal  officers.  At 
the  moment  of  his  treachery  he  was  employed  in  the  office  of 
Public  Accounts,  and  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  Whigs. 
His  own  declarations,  as  stated  in  the  paper  before  me, 
were,  that  "  He  was  ever  an  enemy  to  the  declaration  of 
independency  ;  but  he  said  little,  except  to  the  most  trusty 
Loyalists.  He  stands  well  with  the  officers  of  the  Conti 
nental  Army ;  with  General  Parsons  he  is  intimate,  and  is 
not  suspected.  He  was  at  an  interview  between  General 
Parsons  and  Mr.  Izard,  who  arrived  in  Terney's  Fleet,  and 
went  on  to  Philadelphia,"  &c.,  &c.  The  "  information  " 
occupies  several  printed  pages. 

HERSEY,  ABNER.  Of  Barnstable,  Massachusetts.  Physi 
cian.  Of  some  distinction  in  his  profession  ;  just  in  his 
dealings ;  and  of  rigid  morality.  But,  eccentric,  whimsi 
cal,  and  capricious,  domestic  happiness  and  social  inter 
course  were  strangers  in  his  family.  He  lived  principally 
on  milk  and  vegetables,  and  wore  a  coat  made  of  seven 
tanned  calf-skins.  He  railed  at  the  fashions  of  the  time, 
and  he  railed  at  the  people  with  whom  he  mingled.  Of  his 
sincerity,  we  have  the  following  instance.  The  widow  of  his 
brother  and  a  female  friend  proposed  to  visit  him,  and  so 
informed  him  by  letter.  He  answered  :  —  "  Madam,  I  can't 
have  you  here  :  I  am  sick,  and  my  wife  is  sick ;  I  have  no 
hay  nor  corn  for  your  horses  ;  I  have  no  servants,  and  I  had 
rather  be  chained  to  a  galley-oar  than  wait  on  you  myself." 
He  died  in  1787,  aged  sixty-five.  His  will  is  one  of  the 
strangest  documents  on  record  ;  and  the  Legislature  inter- 
ferred,  finally,  to  put  an  end  to  his  absurd  scheme  to  perpet 
uate  his  estate.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  professorship  of  the 
theory  and  practice  of  medicine  in  Harvard  University.  Han 
nah,  his  widow,  died  at  Barnstable  in  1794,  aged  sixty-four. 

HEWES,  SHTJBAEL.  Of  Boston.  The  Council  of  Massachu 
setts  ordered  his  arrest,  April,  177(3.  Prior  to  the  evacua 
tion,  he  was  chief  butcher  to  the  British  Army.  He  died  at 
Boston  in  1813,  aged  eighty-one. 


532  HEWLETT. 

HEWLETT,  RICHARD.  Of  Hempstead,  New  York.  He  was 
a  captain  in  the  French  war,  and  assisted  in  the  capture  of 
Fort  Frontenac.  In  the  Revolutionary  strife,  he  took  an 
early  and  active  part  on  the  side  of  the  King.  In  1775  he 
told  a  distinguished  Whig  that  he  had  mustered  his  command 
a  few  days  previously,  when,  "  had  your  battalion  appeared, 
we  should  have  warmed  their  sides."  Before  the  close  of 
that  year  he  received  from  the  Asia  ship-of-war  a  great 
quantity  of  ammunition,  some  small-arms,  and  a  cannon.  In 
March,  1776,  his  course  had  rendered  him  very  obnoxious  to 
the  Whigs  ;  and  General  Lee  directed  that  "  Richard  Hew 
lett  is  to  have  no  conditions  offered  to  him,  but  is  to  be  secured 
without  ceremony."  He  accepted  a  commission  when  De 
Lancey's  corps  was  raised,  and  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
third  of  De  Lancey's  Battalions. 

In  command  of  the  garrison  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  men 
at  Setauket,  Long  Island,  New  York,  in  1777,  immediate  sur- 
rendervwas  demanded  by  General  Parsons.  The  Colonel  asked 
his  soldiers  if  he  should  submit.  "  No  !  "  was  the  response. 
"  Then,"  said  he,  "  I  '11  stick  to  you  as  long  as  there  's  a  man 
left."  After  a  cannonade  of  two  or  three  hours,  the  Whigs 
retreated  ;  and  the  Colonel  was  complimented  for  his  good 
conduct  in  general  orders.  Some  months  after,  the  post  was 
abandoned.  January  2,  1778,  "  one  hundred  and  thirty 
Tories  from  the  west  end  of  Long  Island,  commanded  "  by 
him,  "  came  down  to  Southold,  Oyster  Pond,"  and  robbed 
the  inhabitants  of  clothing,  money,  grain,  cattle,  &c.  At 
the  close  of  the  war  he  retired  on  half-pay,  and  settled  in 
New  Brunswick.  He  was  a  grantee  of  the  city  of  St.  John, 
and  its  mayor.  He  died  on  the  river  St.  John,  near  Gage- 
town,  in  1789.  His  widow,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary 
Townsend,  died  on  Long  Island,  New  York,  in  1819,  aged 
eighty-five. 

HEWLETT,  THOMAS.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  Colonel 
Richard.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  New  York  Volunteers, 
and  in  1780  was  killed  at  Hanging  Rock,  while  looking  out 
of  the  loophole  of  a  block-house,  to  see  what  the  u  Rebels  " 
were  doing. 


IIEYDEN.  —  HICKS.  533 

HEYDEN,  S.  A  captain  in  the  King's  Hangers.  In  1777, 
made  prisoner,  violated  his  parole,  and  sent  to  the  Council  of 
Pennsylvania.  In  November,  1782,  he  had  retired  to  the 
Island  of  St.  John,  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  where  he  invited 
other  Loyalists  to  follow  him. 

HICKEY,  EDWARD.  Went  to  Cape  Breton  ;  returned  to 
the  United  States,  and  died  at  Boston  in  1793. 

HICKEY,  THOMAS.  In  1776  a  plot  of  the  disaffected  to 
the  Whig  cause  extended  to  Washington's  own  camp,  and 
part  of  his  guard  were  engaged  in  it.  Hickey  was  one  of 
the  number.  He  was  tried,  and  having  been  convicted  by 
the  unanimous  opinion  of  a  court-martial,  was  executed  on 
the  28th  of  June  of  that  year,  in  a  field  between  McDougall's 
and  Huntington's  camps,  near  the  Bowery  Lane,  New  York, 
in  the  presence  of  nearly  twenty  thousand  spectators. 

HICKS,  JONATHAN.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1770,  and  fitted  himself  for  the  prac 
tice  of  medicine.  In  1773  or  1774  he  was  at  Gardinerston, 
(now  Gardiner,  Maine,)  where  he  "  expressed  himself  highly 
against  Whig  Committees,  calling  them  Rebels,  and  using  other 
opprobious  language  against  the  people  who  appeared  for  lib 
erty."  He  was  afterwards  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  and 
continued  the  same  course  of  conduct,  and  "  at  certain  times 
appeared  very  high,  and  once  drew  his  sword  or  spear  upon 
certain  persons."  The  evening  after  the  battle  of  Lexington, 
he  left  Plymouth,  and  took  shelter  .with  a  detachment  of  the 
Royal  troops  at  Marshfield,  and  finally,  retired  to  Boston. 
Soon  after,  General  Gage  despatched  the  sloop  Polly  to  Nova 
Scotia  for  supplies,  and  he  embarked ;  designing,  as  he  said, 
to  remain  at  Halifax,  "  if  he  could  find  business,  in  order  to 
be  out  of  the  noise."  On  the  passage,  the  Polly  was  captured, 
and  Hicks  was  sent  prisoner  to  the  Provincial  Congress.  That 
body  ordered  a  Committee  to  investigate  his  case  in  June, 
1775  ;  and  as  Hicks  himself  owned  that  his  conduct  had,  on 
the  whole,  been  that  of  a  person  "  whom  the  people  for  liberty 
call  a  Tory,"  he  was  sent  under  guard  to  Concord,  and  com- 
45* 


534  HICKS. 

mitted  to  jail.  He  entered  the  Royal  service,  subsequently, 
and  was  a  surgeon.  He  died  at  Demarara,  in  1826. 

HICKS,  CHARLES.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  Arrested 
by  order  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  and  sent  to  Connecticut ; 
but  released  on  parole,  and  under  recognizance  of  X500  to  be 
of  food  behavior.  In  1780  an  Addresser  of  Governor  Rob- 

o 

ertson.  The  same  year  he  was  in  command  of  a  party  of 
Loyal  militia ;  and  some  Whigs  having  captured  a  schooner 
in  Jamaica  Bay.  in  August,  he  assembled  his  company,  and 
with  a  few  volunteers,  in  two  boats,  went  in  quest  of  them. 
He  offered  the  "  Rebels  "  good  quarters,  provided  they  wrould 
surrender ;  this  they  refused,  and  a  smart  action  ensued,  in 
which  the  Whigs  were  overcome.  They  accordingly  accepted 
the  terms  at  first  rejected,  and  became  prisoners.  Twenty-eight 
thus  fell  into  Hicks's  hands,  of  whom  one  was  a  clergyman. 

HICKS,  JOHN.  Printer,  of  Boston.  Was  born  in  Cam 
bridge,  Massachusetts,  and  was  proscribed  and  banished  in 
1778.  His  father  was  a  Whig,  and  lost  his  life  in  the  affair 
of  Lexington.  John,  it  was  supposed,  was  a  Whig  also  ;  but 
in  1773,  he  and  Nathaniel  Mills  bought  the  "  Massachusetts 
Gazette  and  Post-Boy  "  of  Green  and  Russell,  and  devoted 
it  to  the  support  of  the  measures  of  the  Ministry.  His  paper 
wras  conducted  witli  much  ability,  spirit,  and  vigor.  Among 
the  writers  for  it  were  persons  of  great  political  knowledge 
and  judgment.  It  was  believed  at  the  time  that  officers  of 
the  British  Army  were  likewise  contributors  to  its  columns. 
Hicks  went  to  Halifax  in  1776,  and  continued  with  the  Royal 
troops  at  different  posts  throughout  the  war,  supporting,  pro 
fessionally,  the  side  which  he  last  espoused  ;  and  on  the  evac 
uation  of  New  York,  went  again  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia, 
where  he  remained  a  few  years,  and  then  returned  to  Boston. 
Having  acquired  considerable  property  by  his  business  during 
the  Revolution,  he  purchased  an  estate  at  Newton,  Massachu 
setts,  on  which  he  resided  until  his  death. 

HICKS,  GILBERT.  Sheriff  of  Bucks,  Pennsylvania.  In 
1776,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  by  calling  court  in  the 
King's  name,  gave  great  offence  to  the  Whigs.  A  mob  as- 


HILL.  535 

sembled  to  hang  him,  but  lie  escaped  their  hands  ;  and  after 
concealing  himself  in  the  woods  for  several  weeks,  effected  his 
escape.  Attainted  of  treason  and  estate  confiscated.  He 
"  went  to  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  received  some  land,  and  an 
annual  pension.  Some  few  years  after  he  was  assassinated  on 
his  way  home,  after  receiving  his  pay." 

HILL,  REV.  ABRAHAM.  Of  Shutesbury,  Massachusetts. 
Congregational  minister.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  Univer 
sity  in  1737,  and  was  ordained  in  1742.  After  a  ministry  of 
about  thirty-four  years,  and  in  1776,  his  flock  refused  to  hear 
him  preach.  "  His  Toryism  was  most  offensive."  He  was  put 
in  the  pound,  and  herrings  were  thrown  over  to  him  to  eat. 
In  1778  he  was  dismissed.  Subsequently,  he  sued  for  arrears 
of  salary,  and  recovered  judgment.  He  was  the  only  Loyal 
ist  in  town  of  any  note.  Until  compelled,  he  refused  to  pay 
the  taxes  imposed  by  the  Whigs  ;  and  brought  an  action  in 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  to  regain  the  amount  paid  against 
his  will.  He  died  in  1788. 

HILL,  WILLIAM.  Of  Massachusetts.  Embarked  with  his 
family  of  sixteen  persons  at  Boston  for  Halifax,  with  the  Royal 
Army.  At  the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  eighteen 
persons,  and  by  five  servants,  he  went  from  New  York  to 
Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted  him  fifty 
acres  of  land,  one  town  and  one  water  lot.  His  losses  in  con 
sequence  of  his  loyalty  were  estimated  at  =£330. 

HILL,  ERSKINE.  Of  Connecticut.  Member  of  the  Read 
ing  Loyalist  Association. 

HILL,  JOHN.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  In  1782  he 
was  an  Inspector  in  the  Superintendent  Department  estab 
lished  at  New  York,  and  was  stationed  at  Brooklyn.  He  set 
tled  at  Digby,  Nova  Scotia,  at  the  peace,  and  died  there  with 
out  family. 

HILL,  RICHARD.  Brother  of  John  ;  also  settled  at  Digby, 
was  a  magistrate,  and  Acting  Collector  of  the  Customs.  Ad 
ministration  on  his  estate  advertised,  June,  1803. 

HILL,  HENRY.  Of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania;  and 
Patrick,  of  Wyoming ;  attainted  of  treason  and  property 


536  HILL.  -  HOLLAND. 

confiscated.     John,   also    attainted,    but    surrendered    himself 
and  was  discharged. 

HILL,  THOMAS.  Of  Wyoming.  It  is  stated  that  he  was 
engaged  in  the  Massacre  in  1778,  and  that  with  his  own 
hands  he  killed  his  mother  and  several  other  relatives  ;  but, 
like  the  story  of  similar  deeds  by  the  Terrys,  the  relation  is 
of  doubtful  truth. 

HILL,  JOSHUA.  Of  Delaware.  Attainted  of  treason  and 
estate  confiscated.  At  the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family 
of  three  persons,  and  by  one  servant,  he  went  from  New 
York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted 
him  fifty  acres  of  land,  one  town  and  one  water  lot.  His  losses 
in  consequence  of  his  loyalty  were  estimated  at  <£10,000. 

HILL,  RICHARD.  Of  South  Carolina.  The  Act  of  1782 
confiscates  estate  in  the  possession  of  his  heirs  or  devisees. 

HILT,  WILLIAM.  Died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in 
1822,  aged  seventy. 

HILTOX,  BENJAMIN,  JR.  Of  Schenectady,  New  York. 
Attorney-at-law.  In  December,  1775,  he  wrote  a  letter  to 
Alexander  White,  Sheriff  of  the  county  of  Tryon,  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Committee  of  the  city  and  county  of  Al 
bany,  contained  expressions  of  "  unwarrantable  exultation  in 
the  distress  and  defeat  which  he  supposed  a  part  of  the  Con 
tinental  Army  had  sustained  "  in  Canada  ;  and  which  caused 
various  proceedings  against  him.  At  last,  the  Committee 
voted  their  "  disdain  of  his  impotent  attempts  "  to  traduce  the 
Whig  troops  in  question  ;  and  "  to  dismiss  him  from  further 
prosecution." 

HOGG,  JOHN.  Of  North  Carolina.  One  of  the  last  official 
acts  of  Governor  Martin  was  to  commission^this  gentleman  as 
a  magistrate  for  the  county  of  Orange.  The  Whigs  at  this 
time  (1775)  had  so  far  obtained  the  ascendency  in  the  public 
councils,  as  to  cause  his  Excellency  to  dissolve  the  Assembly  ; 
and  no  new  House  was  elected  during  the  remaining  period  of 

1    '  i         ...  &  01 

Ins  administration. 

HOLLAND,  SAMUEL.  Surveyor-General  of  the  Colonies 
north  of  Virginia.  A  major  in  the  French  war,  and  en- 


HOLLAND.  537 

gaged  in  the  expeditions  against  Louisburg  and  Quebec. 
When  Wolfe  fell,  he  was  near.  In  1773  he  announced  his 
intention  to  make  Perth  Amboy,  New  Jersey,  his  head-quar 
ters,  and  wrote  to  a  gentleman  there  to  inquire  for  houses  to 
accommodate  himself  and  his  assistants.  He  had  then  com 
pleted  the  surveys  as  far  west  as  Boston.  Proposed  in  1774 
to  get  round  Cape  Cod  and  to  New  London  ;  and  said  it  would 
be  at  least  six  years  before  he  should  be  able  to  finish  his 
labors.  In  1775,  he  wrote  Lord  Dartmouth  that  he  was  ready 
to  run  the  line  between  Massachusetts  and  New  York.  By  a 
communication  laid  before  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massa 
chusetts  in  July,  1775,  it  appears  that  he  had  loaned  to  Alex- 
der  Shepard,  junior,  (who  also  was  a  surveyor,)  a  plan  or 
survey  of  Maine,  which  Shephard  disliked  to  return,  fearing 
that  it  might  be  used  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the  Whig 
cause,  as  Holland  was  an  adherent  of  the  Crown,  and  then 
in  New  Jersey.  Congress  considered  the  matter,  and  by  re- 

»/  O  J 

solve,  recommended  to  Shephard  to  retain  Holland's  plan, 
and  another  which  he  himself  had  made,  until  leave  should 
be  granted  for  other  disposition  of  them.  Major  Holland 
went  to  Lower  Canada,  where  he  resumed  his  duties  of  Sur 
veyor-General,  in  which  capacity  he  served  nearly  fifty  years. 
He  died  in  that  Province  in  1801,  and,  at  the  time  of  his 
decease,  was  a  member  of  the  Executive  and  Legislative 
Councils. 

HOLLAND,  STEPHEN.  Of  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire. 
He  was  a  colonel  in  the  militia,  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Assembly,  and  a  man  of  note.  In  1775  he  appeared  at  a 
town-meeting,  and  made  a  written  declaration  that  the  charges 
against  him,  as  being  an  enemy  to  his  country,  were  false  ;  and 
concluded  with  saying  that  u  he  was  ready  to  assist  his  coun 
trymen  in  the  glorious  cause  of  liberty,  at  the  risk  of  his  life 
and  fortune."  But  in  1778  his  estate  was  confiscated,  and  he 
was  proscribed  and  banished.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  culture, 
easy  address,  and  influence.  He  went  to  England,  thence  to 
Ireland,  and  died  soon  after  the  peace. 

HOLLAND,  JOHN.     Of  New  Hampshire.     Proscribed  and 


538  HOLLAND.  —  HOLT. 

banished.  A  Loyalist  of  this  name  was  sheriff  of  the  county 
of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1792,  and  died  in  that  Prov 
ince  in  1806. 

HOLLAND,  RICHARD.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  was  pro 
scribed  and  banished.  In  1782  he  was  an  ensign  of  infantry 
in  the  Queen's  Rangers.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  settled 
subsequently  on  the  coast,  at  Dipper  Harbor,  where  he  now 
(1843)  lives,  and  receives  half-pay. 

HOLLTDAY,  WILLIAM.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  In 
1780,  Judge  Pendleton,  of  South  Carolina,  as  was  alleged,  vio 
lated  his  parole  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  fled  from  Charles 
ton,  and  Lord  Cornwallis  threatened  to  retaliate  upon  his 
Whig  prisoners.  The  case  was  submitted  to  Congress,  and 
the  act  of  escape  justified,  on  the  ground  that  Holliday,  at  the 
head  of  a  band  of  Tories,  had  determined  to  seize  the  Judge  in 
his  quarters  in  the  night,  and  hang  him  at  the  town-gate. 

HoLLiNGSWOiiTH,  -  — .  Of  Georgia.  Captain  in  the 
corps  of  the  infamous  McGirth.  In  1780,  while  on  an  expe 
dition  to  South  Carolina,  his  party  murdered  seventeen  men 
on  their  farms,  in  one  or  two  days ;  and,  for  miles,  the  coun 
try  was  a  scene  of  ruin.  Disappointed  at  not  finding  a  par 
ticular  Whig  of  whom  they  were  in  quest,  they  took  the  flint 
out  of  the  lock  of  a  musket,  and  put  his  wife's  thumb  in  its 
place,  and  applied  the  screw,  in  order  to  compel  her  to  disclose 
the  place  of  his  concealment.  Two  Loyalists  of  this  surname, 
Timothy  and  Valentine,  were  attainted  of  treason  in  Georgia, 
and  lost  their  estates  by  confiscation.  The  above  was  prob 
ably  one  of  them. 

HOLT,  MOSES.  Captain  in  the  Pennsylvania  Loyalists. 
After  the  war  he  settled  in  William  Henry  (now  Sorel) 
district  of  Montreal,  Canada,  where  he  acquired  valuable 
real  estate,  and  was  a  magistrate.  He  received  half-pay. 
lie  died  at  William  Henry  in  1799.  His  first  wife  bore 
him  William  Johnson,  and  two  daughters,  Beeda  and  Melin- 
da.  His  second  wife,  Esther  Solomon,  was  the  mother  of 
Guy  Solomon  and  George  Garth. 


HOLT.  —  IIONEYMAN.  539 

HOLT,  WILLIAM  JOHNSON.  Son  of  the  preceding,  ensign 
in  Ferguson's  Rangers.  This  corps  formed  a  part  of  the  army 
of  Burgoyne  at  the  time  of  his  surrender,  and,  with  other 
Provincial  prisoners,  retired  to  Canada,  by  permission  of  Gates. 
The  subject  of  this  notice  settled  in  Montreal,  where  he  held 
the  lucrative  office  of  Inspector  of  Pot  and  Pearl  Ashes,  and 
where  he  accumulated  considerable  property.  He  received 
half-pay  for  nearly  fifty  years.  He  died  at  Montreal  in  1826. 
By  his  first  wife,  (Ruali  Stevens,  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,) 
he  was  the  father  of  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters ;  by 
his  second  wife,  (Elizabeth  Cuyler,)  he  left  no  issue.  His 
sixth  son,  Charles  Adolplms,  alone  has  surviving  male  chil 
dren,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Charles  Gates  Holt  is  (1864)  a  dis 
tinguished  counsellor-at-law,  and  a  gentleman  of  the  highest 
respectability,  at  Quebec.  In  February,  1864,  he  was  ap 
pointed  one  of  her  "  Majesty's  Counsel  learned  in  the  Law," 
and  thus  is  entitled  to  wear  the  "  silk  robe." 

HOLYOKE,  EDWARD  AUGUSTUS.  Of  Salem,  Massachusetts. 
Son  of  President  Holyoke,  of  Harvard  University ;  was  born 
August  13,  1728,  and  graduated  in  1746.  His  first  wife  was 
a  daughter  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Pickman,  of  Salem  ;  his 
second,  of  Nathaniel  Viall,  of  Boston.  He  was  an  Addresser 
of  Hutchinson,  on  his  departure,  and  of  Gage,  on  his  arrival, 
and  for  addressing  the  first  became  a  Recanter.  He  com 
mitted  himself  no  more,  and  was  allowed  to  remain  in  the 
country  without  molestation.  He  died  at  Salem,  March  31, 
1829,  aged  one  hundred  years,  having  practised  medicine  for 
seventy-nine  years.  On  the  day  he  was  a  century  old,  his 
professional  brethren  of  Boston  and  Salem,  to  the  number  of 
about  fifty,  gave  him  a  public  dinner. 

HOMER,  JOSEPH.  In  1776  he  accompanied  the  Royal 
Army  from  Boston  to  Halifax  ;  and  immediately  fixing  his 
abode  in  Barrington,  Nova  Scotia,  lived  there  ever  after.  He 
held  the  offices  of  Collector  of  his  Majesty's  Customs,  and  of 
Collector  of  Colonial  Duties,  and  was  a  magistrate.  He  died 
in  1837,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one. 

HONEYMAN,  JAMES.     Of  Rhode  Island.    Last  Royal  Advo- 


540  HOOD. -HOOK. 

cate-General  of  the  Court  of  Vice-Admiralty  in  that  Colony. 
His  father  was  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Newport.  He  was 
born  in  1710.  Educated  to  the  bar,  he  acquired  distinction 
early ;  and,  while  yet  young,  was  elected  Attorney-General, 
and  held  the  office  until  it  was  abolished,  in  1741.  Subse 
quently,  he  was  much  employed  in  public  business ;  and 
finally  appointed  Advocate-General.  He  "  was  a  sound  and 
able  lawyer,  and  enjoyed  an  "extensive  practice  through  the 
Colony.''  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Golding.  He  died  in  1788, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-seven.  The  husbands  of  his  daughters  ad 
hered  to  the  Royal  side,  and  much  that  he  bequeathed  them  was 
confiscated ;  but  on  petition,  the  Legislature  made  restoration. 

HOOD,  ZACHARIAH.  Stamp-Master  for  Maryland.  In  1765 
a  mob  of  several  hundred  pulled  down  his  house  in  Annap 
olis,  which  he  was  repairing,  as  was  supposed,  for  a  stamp- 
office.  Unwilling  to  relinquish  the  post,  because  he  wanted 
its  emoluments,  yet  terrified,  he  fled  to  New  York,  and,  for 
entire  safety,  lived  in  the  Fort.  Assailed  even  there  by  the 
"  Sons  of  Liberty,"  he  consented  to  resign,  and  to  swear  that 
he  was  sincere  in  renouncing  his  odious  office. 

HOOGHTELING,  WILLIAM.  He  deserted  from  a  Whig 
regiment  raised  in  New  York,  at  the  instance,  as  he  averred, 
of  his  stepfather  and  of  others  of  his  family,  and  became  a 
marauder,  or  Tory  robber.  In  May,  1779,  he  was  executed 
at  Albany. 

HOOK,  JOHN.  A  wealthy  Scot,  living  in  Campbell  County, 
Virginia.  When  Cornwallis  had  invaded  the  State  in  1781, 
an  American  Commissary,  one  Venables,  seized  two  of  Hook's 
cattle  for  the  use  of  the  Whigs.  After  the  peace,  Hook,  who 
was  generally  believed  to  be  unfriendly  to  the  cause,  sued 
Venables  for  trespass  on  the  case,  the  act  of  taking  the  oxen 
having  been,  it  would  seem,  high-handed  and  not  in  due  form 
of  law.  Patrick  Henry  was  for  the  defence,  William  Cowan 
for  the  plaintiff.  Mr.  Henry,  by  exciting  the  passions  of  the 
jury  against  the  alleged  Tory  predilections  of  the  plaintiff, 
gained  the  case.  After  dwelling  on  the  shouts  of  triumph 
which  hailed  the  final  success  of  Washington's  arms,  he  con- 


HOOPER.  541 

tinned  :  "  but  hark  !  what  notes  of  discord  are  these  which 
disturb  the  general  joy,  and  silence  the  acclamations  of 
victory?  —  they  are  the  notes  of  John  Hook,  bawling  hoarsely 
through  the  American  camp,  beef!  beef!  beef!" 

HOOPER,  WILLIAM.  Of  Boston.  He  was  settled  first  as 
a  Congregational  minister  of  the  West  Church ;  but  suc 
ceeded  Mr.  Davenport  as  Rector  of  Trinity  Church  in  1747. 
A  number  of  Congregational  clergymen  became  Episcopa 
lians  about  the  same  time.  He  was  a  man  of  eloquence  and 
talents.  He  died  in  17  (>7.  The  Rev.  Doctor  Walter  was 
his  successor.  His  son,  William,  graduated  at  Harvard  Uni 
versity  in  1760,  studied  law  with  James  Otis,  emigrated  to 
North  Carolina  after  the  Stamp  Act  troubles,  and  became  a 
member  of  Congress,  and  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence.  Mr.  Jefferson  has  left  behind  him  the  recorded 
opinion,  distinctly  and  pointedly  expressed,  that  in  the  Con 
gress  of  1770  he  was  a  rank  Tory.  Possibly  it  was  so  ;  but 
most  men — very  likely  —  will  regard  William  Hooper  the 
younger,  as  of  a  very  different  political  school.  The  fact  that 
he  was  a  signer,  affords  very  questionable  proof  of  his  attach 
ment  to  the  British  Crown,  at  the  least.  And  some  persons  — 
not  improbably  —  will  be  ready  to  ask,  "  If  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  were  Tories,  where  shall 
we  look  for  the  Whigs  ?" 

HOOPER,  GEORGE.  Of  North  Carolina.  Brother  of  Wil 
liam  Hooper,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
He  took  refuge  in  South  Carolina.  In  the  winter  of  1782 
he  was  at  Charleston,  "  in  suspense  what  to  do  ;  "  and  in  the 
summer  of  that  year,  at  Wilmington,  with  his  family,  in  a 
fiao;  of  truce.  In  178o  he  visited  North  Carolina  again,  and 
was  suffered  to  live  unmolested  several  weeks  ;  but  a  warrant 
for  his  arrest  was  issued,  finally,  and  he  departed.  Accom 
panied  by  his  wife,  he  went  to  Wilmington  still  again,  in 
1785,  and  saw  his  brother  William,  who  said:  "Our  meet 
ing  was  awkward,  distant,  and  distressing  to  me."  It  was 
remarked  of  Mrs.  Hooper,  that  she  had  grown  "  more  easy 
and  affable." 

VOL.  i.  4G 


542  HOOPER. 

A  lawyer  of  note  in  North  Carolina,  who  wrote  many 
sneering  and  querulous  letters,  said  in  1787  :  "  In  this  quarter, 
where  we  are  not  famed  for  any  intimacy  with  Scripture,  we 
were  for  some  time  at  a  loss  to  know  who  Gallio  was ;  but  a 
New  England  man,  one  George  Hooper,  found  in  the  eigh 
teenth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  Gallio, 
before  whom  the  Jews  brought  Paul,  was  deputy  of  Achaia. 
The  application  would  have  better  suited  his  purpose,  had 
the  Judge  substituted  the  Assembly  in  the  place  of  Judge 
Gallio,  himself  for  the  Apostle,  and  the  lawyers  for  the  Jews ; 
but  the  fool  had  not  understanding  sufficient  to  apply  the 
text,  so  as  to  prove  from  Scripture  his  own  righteousness. 
Having  taken  the  name  of  Judge  Gallio  upon  himself,  it  may 
very  properly  be  applied  to  him  for  the  future."  The 
Loyalist,  at  this  period,  seems  to  have  had  a  home  in  or  near 
Wilmington,  and  to  have  been  in  the  toils  of  the  law.  At 
the  close  of  the  year  1787,  his  Whig  brother,  William,  re 
marked  :  "  George,  after  court,  called  Spencer,  with  due 
spirit  and  decency,  to  account  for  expressions  which  he  had 
made  use  of  respecting  himself  and  Maclaine  in  Burgynn's 
business.  Spencer  degraded  himself."  Our  Loyalist,  later 
in  life,  was  a  distinguished  merchant  at  Wilmington,  and  the 
first  President  of  the  Bank  of  Cape  Fear. 

HOOPER,  THOMAS.  Of  North  Carolina.  Brother  of  Wil 
liam  Hooper,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
An  Addresser  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  at  Charleston,  in  1780. 
In  February,  1782,  he  was  still  in  that  city,  transacting  a 
large  business,  and  rapidly  accumulating  a  fortune ;  but  the 
expectation  was,  that  his  wife  would  soon  embark  for  England, 
and  that  he  would  follow  her.  In  July,  1785,  they  had  been 
abroad,  and  had  returned  to  Wilmington,  North  Carolina. 
Both  were  in  consumption,  "  both  were  going  to  Rhode 
Island, — flying  from  death,  which  was  at  no  great  distance 
from  them  !  "  "  Mrs.  Hooper,"  wrote  one  who  then  saw 
her,  "  is  a  very  fine  woman,  much  polished  by  her  tour 
through  Britain  ;  alas !  yet  but  a  little  while,  and  how  useless 
all  her  accomplishments."  Possibly,  they  recovered  ;  for  on 


HOOPER.  -  IIORSEMANDEN.  543 

the  last  day  of  the  year  1787,  I  find  that  husband  and  wife 
were  guests  of  their  brother  William,  at  Point  Repose,  North 
Carolina,  without  a  word  about  their  health. 

HOOPER,  JOSEPH.  Of  Marblehead,  Massachusetts.  Was 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  University,  of  the  class  of  170-5.  In 
1774  he  was  an  Addresser  of  Hutchinson,  and  in  1775 
abandoned  home  for  England,  where  lie  was  a  manufacturer 
of  paper,  and  where  he  died  in  1812.  Several  persons  of 
Marblehead  of  the  name  of  Hooper  were  Addressers  of 
Hutchinson.  To  wit :  Robert ;  Robert,  Jr. ;  Robert  the  third, 
and  Sweet.  One  of  the  Robert's  died  in  that  town  in  1790  ; 
and  another  in  1814,  aged  seventy-two. 

HOPKINS,  -  — .  Of  Georgia.  In  1775  he  ridiculed  the 
Whig  Committee  of  Safety  personally,  and  spoke  in  contempt, 
of  their  objects.  In  consequence  of  which,  he  was  tarred  and 
feathered  by  a  mob,  who,  to  complete  his  disgrace,  placed  him 
in  a  cart,  which  was  illuminated  for  the  occasion,  and  carried 
through  the  streets  of  Savannah,  attended  by  a  crowd,  for 
several  hours.  In  1778,  John  Hopkins,  of  Georgia,  was  at 
tainted  and  lost  his  estate  by  confiscation  ;  probably  the  same. 

HOPTON,  JOHN.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  in  1780.  He  was  also  a  Peti 
tioner  to  be  armed  on  the  side  of  the  Crown.  He  was  ban 
ished,  and  in  1782  his  property  was  confiscated.  Prior  to 
the  Revolution  he  was  a  merchant.  At  the  evacuation  of 
Charleston  he  left  the  country.  The  British  Government 
made  him  a  partial  allowance  for  his  losses.  He  died  in  1831. 

HORRY,  DANIEL.  Of  South  Carolina.  In  1774,  after  the 
port  of  Boston  was  shut  by  Act  of  Parliament,  he  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  committee  of  the  city  of  Charleston  to  receive 
donations  for  the  sufferers  in  that  town.  In  1782  his  estate 
was  amerced  twelve  per  cent. 

HORSEMANBEN,  DANIEL.  Of  New  York.  He  was  recorder 
of  the  city  ;  and,  subsequently,  President  of  the  Council,  and 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Colony.  In  1773,  at  which  time  he  held 
the  last-named  office,  he  was  appointed  a  commissioner  under 
the  great  seal  of  England,  to  inquire  into  the  affair  of  burning 


544  HORSFIELD.  —  HOUGH. 

the  Kino-'s  ship  G-(ixp<><',  by  a  party  of  Whigs  of  Rhode  Island, 
the  previous  year.  In  1776,  he,  with  Oliver  De  Lancey,  and 
nine  hundred  and  forty-six  others  of  the  city  and  county  of 
New  York,  were  Addressers  of  Lord  Howe  ;  and  on  the  same 
day  (October  16,)  he  addressed  Governor  Tryon.  The  same 
year,  the  latter  said  that  the  Chief  Justice  was  very  old  and 
feeble,  and  his  infirmities  would  probably  prevent  his  attend 
ance  at  the  meetings  of  the  Council. 

In  1777  Judge  Horsemanden  wrote  Tryon,  that  when  he 
went  to  Newport  about  the  Graspee,  he  was  ill  of  rheumatism, 
was  unable  to  walk  without  help,  and  at  a  time  of  life  drawing 
near  fourscore ;  that  he  was  obliged  to  take  his  wife,  carriage, 
and  two  horses  with  him,  &c.  ;  that  the  Commissioners  ad 
journed  to  the  next  year,  when  he  went  again  "  under  the 
like  circumstances  ;  "  that  lie  had  expended  upwards  of  <£200 
of  his  own  money  on  these  occasions,  "  which  remains  out  of 
pocket  this  day,  and  hitherto  my  trouble  for  nothing  ;  • '  while 
his  regular  salary  as  Chief  Justice  was  much  in  arrears,  &c., 
and  he  solicited  the  Governor's  good  offices  with  Lord  George 
Germain.  The  Judge  died  in  1778,  and  was  buried  in  Trinity 
church-yard.  His  "  History  of  the  Negro  Plot,  or  New  York 
Conspiracy,"  was  republished  in  1810.  Of  the  conspirators  of 
whom  this  publication  treats,  fourteen  were  burnt  and  eigh 
teen  were  hanged.  He  was  engaged  in  the  public  affairs  of 
New  York  for  a  period  of  thirty  years. 

HOKSFIELD,  THOMAS.  Of  New  York.  In  July,  1783,  he 
was  at  New  York,  and  one  of  the  fifty-five  petitioners.  [See 
Abijali  Willard."]  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  soon 
after,  and  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  that  city.  In  that  Prov 
ince  he  was  a  magistrate.  He  died  at  St.  John,  1819,  aged 
seventy-nine.  Ann,  his  wife,  died  in  1815,  at  the  age  of  sev 
enty-two.  Mr.  Horsfield  left  a  large  and  valuable  estate.  His 
son  James,  also  a  Loyalist,  accompanied  him  to  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  received  a  grant  of  land. 

HOUGH,  BENJAMIN.  A  magistrate  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Grants,  now  Vermont.  He  was  seized,  beaten,  stripped  of  his 
property,  driven  from  his  family,  and  compelled  to  take  refuge 


HOUGH.  —  HOUSTON.  545 

in  New  York.  Furnished  with  a  document  of  which  the  fol 
lowing  is  a  copy,  he  began  his  sad  journey :  — 

"  Sunderland,  30  January,  1775. 

u  This  may  certify  the  inhabitants  of  New  Hampshire 
Grants,  that  Benjamin  Hough  has  this  day  received  a  full 
punishment  for  his  crimes  committed  heretofore  against  this 
country,  and  our  inhabitants  are  ordered  to  give  him,  the  said 
Hough,  a  free  and  unmolested  passage  toward  the  city  of 
New  York,  or  to  the  westward  of  our  Grants,  he  behaving  as 
becometh.  Given  under  hands  the  day  and  date  aforesaid. 

"ETHAN  ALLEN. 

"  SETH  WARNER." 

When  Ethan  Allen  was  both  judge  and  executive  officer, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  sufficiency  of  punishment. 
Hough,  it  seems,  was  tied  to  a  tree  and  received  two  hundred 
lashes,  and  he  was  told  that  if  he  returned  from  his  banish 
ment  he  should  receive  five  hundred  lashes  more.  Among 

c5 

the  grave  offences  charged  against  him  was,  that  he  had  in 
formed  the  Governor  of  New  York  of  the  mobbing  and  injury 
of  Benjamin  Spencer,  Esquire,  a  gentleman  of  his  own  politi 
cal  sentiments. 

HOUSECKER,  NICHOLAS.  Of  Lancaster  County,  Pennsyl 
vania.  Attainted  of  treason  and  property  confiscated.  He 
was  originally  a  Whig,  and  was  commissioned  a  major  in 
Wayne's  command  ;  but  went  over  to  the  enemy.  It  is 
said  of  him,  that  he  was  "  a  soldier  of  fortune,  and  a  true 
mercenary." 

HOUSTON,  SIR  PATRICK.  Of  Georgia.  In  1777  the  Com 
mittee  of  Safety  for  the  parish  of  St.  John,  gave  permission  to 
him  and  two  others  to  ship  rice  to  Surinam,  under  bond  and 
security  that  it  should  not  be  landed  in  a  British  port ;  but, 
by  the  agency  of  William  Panton,  a  Loyalist  mentioned  in 
this  work,  the  destination  of  the  vessels  was  changed,  and  the 
bond  was  forfeited.  The  result  was  that  Houston  was  in 
cluded  in  the  Banishment  and  Confiscation  Act.  He  had  an 
46* 


546  HOUSTON.  —  HOWARD. 

estate  in  South  Carolina,  which,  in  1782,  was  amerced  twelve 
per  cent.  I  find  the  deatli  of  Sir  George  Houston,  Baronet, 
in  Georgia,  in  1795. 

HOUSTON,  JOHN.  Of  Bedford,  New  Hampshire.  Minister. 
An  early  and  zealous  Loyalist.  In  177o  the  town  voted  to 
shut  his  church.  He  replied  in  writing,  in  a  manner  discred 
itable.  Insisting  upon  occupying  his  pulpit,  the  doors  and 
windows  were  fastened  against  him.  Finally,  "the  people" 
elected  a  committee  to  inflict  the  disgraceful  punishment  of 
the  "  wooden  horse."  Compelled  to  mount  the  rail,  a  pair  of 
kitchen-tongs  were  placed  astride  his  neck,  and,  mid  jeers  and 
shouts,  he  rode  about  six  miles.  A  year  later,  he  refused  to 
sisjn  the  Test.  He  preached  in  Vermont  subsequently,  but 
was  not  again  settled.  In  1782  there  was  a  Loyalist  Asso- 
ciator  of  this  name  at  New  York,  with  a  family  of  five  per 
sons,  to  settle  at  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia. 

HOUSTON,  JAMES.  Of  North  Carolina.  On  the  passage 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  he  was  appointed  Stamp-Master  of  that 
Colony.  On  the  arrival  of  the  ship  with  the  Stamped  Paper, 
he  was  an  inmate  of  Governor  Try  oil's  house.  A  large  mob 
repaired  to  the  palace —  as  it  was  called  —  and  demanded  that 
Houston  should  come  to  the  door  ;  but  Try  on  "  refused  to 
allow  the  claims  of  such  a  body  to  an  audience,"  and  persisted 
in  his  course,  until  the  threat  of  the  multitude  to  fire  his 
dwelling  was  on  the  point  of  being  executed.  Houston  was 
led  out  finally,  and  conducted  to  the  market-place,  where  he 
took  an  oath  never  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  office. 

HOVENDON,  RICHARD.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Was  a  captain 
of  cavalry  in  the  British  Legion.  He  acted  for  a  time  with 
the  Queen's  Rangers  in  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia, 
and  in  his  excursions  made  prize  of  quantities  of  clothing. 
His  company  was  finally  incorporated  into  Tarleton's  Legion. 
Attainted  of  treason  and  estate  confiscated. 

HOWARD,  MARTIN.  Of  North  Carolina.  He  removed  to 
that  Colony  from  Rhode  Island.  During  the  Stamp  Act  ex 
citement,  in  1705,  his  effigy  was  drawn  through  the  streets, 
and  hung  on  a  gallows  ;  his  house  at  Newport  was  de- 


HOWARD.  547 

stroycd,  and  his  person  injured.  He  fled  to  North  Carolina, 
whore,  after  the  suicide  of  Judge  Berry,  he  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Council,  and  Chief  Justice.  His  reputation 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  good  ;  nor  does  it  seem  that  the 
calm  and  moderate  respected  him  ;  while  from  others  he  some 
times  received  abuse,  and  even  bodily  harm.  Careful  pens 
speak  of  his  profligate  character,  and  of  his  corrupt  and  wicked 
designs,  and  aver  that  the  members  of  the  Assembly  hated 
him. 

In  the  great  riot  at  Hillsborough  in  1770,  Judge  Howard 
was  driven  from  the  Bench,  but  the  mob  respected  his  asso 
ciate,  Judge  Moore.  In  1774  Howard's  judicial  functions 
ceased,  in  consequence  of  the  tumults  and  disorders  of  the 
times  ;  and  the  suspension  from  office  of  one  who  "  was  noto 
riously  destitute  not  only  of  the  common  virtues  of  humanity, 
but  of  all  sympathy  whatever  with  the  community  in  which 
he  lived,"  was  a  matter  of  much  joy.  In  1775  he  was  pres 
ent  in  Council,  and  expressed  the  highest  detestation  of  un 
lawful  meetings,  and  advised  Governor  Martin  to  inhibit  and 
forbid  the  assembling  of  the  Whig  Convention  appointed  at 
Newbern.  In  July,  1777,  he  embarked  with  his  family  for 
a  Northern  port,  and  visited  Rhode  Island.  In  conversation 
with  Secretary  Wood,  he  observed  :  "  Henry,  you  may  rely 
upon  it,  I  shall  have  no  quarrel  with  the  Sons  of  Liberty  of 
Newport  ;  it  was  they  who  made  me  Chief  Justice  of  North 
Carolina,  with  a  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year." 

He  went  to  England  in  1778,  and  reported  to  fellow-Loy 
alists  that  a  number  of  gentlemen  of  influence  and  property, 
who  had  been  neutral,  to  see  which  way  the  contest  would 
finally  end,  had  lately  joined  the  Royal  side.  Pie  died  in 
England,  December,  1781.  James  Center  married  one  of 
his  daughters,  and  after  her  decease,  became  the  husband  of 
another. 

Ho  WAR]),  JOHN.  In  1782  he  was  a  captain  in  the  King's 
Orange  Rangers.  For  some  part  of  the  contest,  he  was  un 
der  command  of  Tarleton,  and  had  much  difficulty  with  that 
officer.  He  and  Colonel  Beverley  Robinson  were  intimate. 


548  HOWARD.  —  HOWE. 

He  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  magistrate  many 
years.  He  died  at  Hampton,  1824,  aged  eighty-two. 

HOWARD,  SHEFFIELD.  Of  New  York.  Lost  a  large 
amount  of  property  during  the  war.  His  daughter  Anne 
married  Major  Bingham  ;  and,  a  widow,  became  the  wife  of 
Sir  Thomas  Hay,  Baronet.  Sir  James  Douglas  Hamilton 
Hay,  the  present  (1857)  baronet,  is  the  oldest  son  of  the 
second  marriage. 

HOWE,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  He  was  proscribed  and  ban 
ished.  He  was  a  native  of  that  town,  and  at  the  Revolu 
tionary  era  conducted,  in  connection  with  Mrs.  Draper,  the 
"  Massachusetts  Gazette  and  Boston  News  Letter." 

His  son  Joseph,  of  whom  presently,  in  a  speech  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  July  4,  1858,  thus  spoke:  "  Mr.  Mayor,  I  never  come 
to  Boston  without  feeling  that  I  am  at  home,  for  I  find  friends 
everywhere  and  relatives  not  a  few.  I  have  partaken,  on 
former  occasions,  of  its  unbounded  hospitality.  We  have  not 
forgotten,  in  the  Provinces,  —  who  that  was  present  will  ever 
forget  ?  —  the  noble  celebration  with  which  you  inaugurated 
your  great  public  works.  I  told  you,  on  that  occasion,  that 
my  father  was  a  Boston  boy.  He,  like  Franklin  and  like  the 
Governor  of  your  State  (who  has  just  done  himself  honor  by 
referring  to  the  fact),  learnt  the  printing  business  in  this  city. 
He  had  just  completed  his  apprenticeship,  and  was  engaged  to 
a  very  pretty  girl,  when  the  Revolution  broke  out.  He  saw 
the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill  from  one  of  the  old  houses  here  — 
he  nursed  the  wounded  when  it  was  over.  Adhering  to  the 
British  side,  he  was  driven  out  at  the  evacuation,  and  retired 
to  Newport,  where  his  betrothed  followed  him.-  They  were 
married  there,  and  afterwards  settled  at  Halifax.  He  left  all 
his  household  goods  and  gods  behind  him,  carrying  away  noth 
ing  but  his  principles  and  the  pretty  girl.  (Great  laughter 
and  applause.) 

"  The  Loyalists  who  left  these  States,  were  not,  it  must  be 
confessed,  as  good  Republicans  as  you  are ;  but  they  loved  lib 
erty  under  their  old  forms,  and  their  descendants  love  it  too. 
My  father,  though  a  true  Briton  to  the  day  of  his  death,  loved 


HOWE.  549 

New  England,  and  old  Boston  especially,  with  filial  regard. 
He  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  serving  a  Boston  man,  if  in 
his  power.  At  the  close  of  your  railway  banquet,  one  gen 
tleman  told  me  that  my  father  had,  during  the  last  war,  taken 
his  father  from  the  Military  Prison  at  Melville  Island,  and 
sent  him  hack  to  Boston.  Another,  on  the  same  evening, 
showed  me  a  gold  watch  sent  by  an  uncle,  who  died  in  the 
West  Indies,  to  his  family.  It  was  •  pawned  by  a  sailor  in 
Halifax,  but  redeemed  by  my  father,  and  sent  to  the  dead 
man's  relatives.  And  so  it  was,  all  his  life.  He  loved  his 
sovereign,  but  he  loved  Boston  too,  and  whenever  he  got  sick 
in  his  latter  days,  we  used  to  send  him  up  here  to  recruit.  A 
sight  of  the  old  scenes  and  a  walk  upon  Boston  Common  were 
sure  to  do  him  good,  and  he  generally  came  back  uncommonly 
well."  (Laughter.) 

Elsewhere,  the  same  son  remarked  :  "  For  thirty  years  he 
was  my  instructor,  my  playfellow,  almost  my  daily  compan 
ion.  To  him  I  owe  my  fondness  for  reading,  my  familiarity 
with  the  Bible,  my  knowledge  of  old  Colonial  and  American 
incidents  and  characteristics.  He  left  me  nothing  but  his  ex 
ample  and  the  memory  of  his  many  virtues,  for  all  that  he 
ever  earned  was  given  to  the  poor.  He  was  too  good  for  this 
world  ;  but  the  remembrance  of  his  high  principle,  his  cheer 
fulness,  his  childlike  simplicity,  and  truly  Christian  character, 
is  never  absent  from  my  mind." 

The  subject  of  this  notice  established  a  newspaper  at  Hal 
ifax,  and  was  King's  Printer.  He  died  in  that  city,  greatly 
lamented,  in  183."),  in  his  eighty-second  year.  Mary-)  his 
widow,  deceased  in  1S37,  aged  seventy-four.  His  son,  Wil 
liam  Howe,  Assistant  Commissary-General,  who  died  at  Hal 
ifax,  January,  l<S4o,  aged  fifty- seven  ;  John  Howe,  Queen's 
Printer,  and  Deputy  Postmaster-General,  who  died  at  the 
same  place  the  same  year,  and  David  Howe,  who  published 
a  paper  at  St.  Andrew,  New  Brunswick,  some  twenty  years 
ago,  were  his  sons.  Of  the  same  relation  is  the  Hon.  Joseph 
Howe,  late  of  the  Council,  and  Collector  of  Excise  at  Hal 
ifax,  and  the  present  leader  of  the  Liberal  party  of  Nova 


550  HOYT.  —  HUBBARD. 

Scotia,  and  (I860)  Secretary  of  the  Province.  His  "  Speeches 
and  Public  Letters,"  published  in  Boston,  2  vols.  8vo.,  in 
1858,  contain  demands  upon  the  Home  Government  for  the 
extension  of  Colonial  rights  and  privileges,  which  have  no 
parallel  in  the  documentary  history  of  the  Revolution.  In  a 
word,  this  son  of  a  Loyalist  speaks  in  bolder  tones  than  any 
Whig  of  '76  dared  to  do  in  his  loftiest  mood. 

HOYT,  JAMES.  Of  Fail-field  County,  Connecticut.  Was 
a  member  of  the  Association  in  1775  ;  went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1783,  and  became  a  merchant.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Loyal  Artillery  in  1795,  and  died  in  King's 
County,  in  that  Province,  in  1803. 

HOYT,  Moxsox.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Prince 
of  Wales's  American  Volunteers,  and  quartermaster  of  the 
corps.  He  retired  on  half-pay  ;  settled  in  New  Brunswick  ; 
engaged  in  commercial  business,  and  was  a  partner^  with  Gen 
eral  Arnold  at  St.  John.  He  publicly  accused  Arnold  of 
burning  his  warehouse  ;  and  was  sued  by  the  traitor  for  defa 
mation.  The  jury  gave  damages  of  two  shillings  and  sixpence 
currency,  (just  fifty  cents.)  In  1792  he  married  Lucretia 
Hammond,  of  Long  Island,  New  York,  and  was  probably  a 
resident  of  that  State. 

HOYT,  ISRAEL.  Of  Fairfield  County,  Connecticut.  Died 
in  Kingston,  New  Brunswick,  in  1803,  aged  sixty-one. 

HUBKAKD,  REV.  BELA,  D.  D.  Of  Connecticut.  Episcopal 
minister.  He  was  born  at  Guilford,  Connecticut,  in  1739,  and 
was  bred  a  Congregationalist.  He  graduated  at  Yale  Col 
lege  in  1758,  and,  five  }Tears  afterwards,  went  to  England  for 
ordination.  After  his  return,  he  officiated  first  in  his  native 
town  and  in  Killingworth.  In  1767  he  was  transferred  to 
the  mission  of  New  and  West  Haven,  and  continued  his 
ministry  there  until  the  Revolution.  His  loyalty  was  well 
known  ;  but,  more  fortunate  than  most  clergymen  of  his 
communion,  he  escaped  personal  indignity,  and  was  allowed 
to  perform  his  official  duties  without  serious  molestation.  In 
the  latter  years  of  his  life  his  services  were  confined  prin 
cipally  to  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven,  It  is  said  that, 


HUBBARD.  551 

"  Wherever  there  was  human  wretchedness  to  be  relieved, 
he  was  on  the  alert  to  act  the  part  of  an  angel  of  mercy"  ; 
that,  "  the  sick  and  afflicted  among  his  own  people  looked 
up  to  him  as  the  kindest  of  friends,  as  well  as  the  most  at 
tentive  of  pastors  ;  and  there  was  no  sacrifice  that  he  was 
not  ready  to  make  to  dispel  the  night-clouds  of  sorrow  from 
the  humblest  dwelling." 

He  died  December,  1812,  in  his  seventy-fourth  year.  He 
married  Grace  Dunbar  Hill,  who  survived  until  1820.  Two 
sons  graduated  at  Yale,  namely  :  Bela,  who  became  a  Judge 
in  Louisiana,  and  died  in  1841  ;  and  Thomas  Hill,  who  wras 
a  member  of  Congress  from  New  York,  and  died  at  Utica 
in  1857,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six.  A  daughter  married 
Timothy  Pitkin,  a  well-remembered  statesman,  who  pub 
lished  "  A  Statistical  View  of  the  Commerce  of  the  United 
States,"  and  "  A  Political  and  Civil  History  of  the  United 
States,  from  1763  to  the  close  of  Washington's  Administra 
tion  "  ;  and  who  died  at  New  Haven  in  1847.  Mrs.  Pitkin 
was  living  in  1855. 

HUBBARD,  REV.  JOHN.  Of  Northfield,  Massachusetts. 
Congregational  minister.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College 
in  1747,  and  settled  at  Northfield  in  1750.  He  "  fell  under 
suspicion,  particularly  because  he  prayed  for  the  King  and 
not  for  Congress"  ;  and  in  1779  a  council  was  called  to  deal 
with  him.  He  agreed  to  maintain  entire  silence  as  to  roy 
alty,  and  "  not  to  say  or  do  anything  against  the  cause  of 
the  country,  the  Continental  Congress,  or  the  army,  but  pray 
for  the  prosperity,  success,  and  happiness  of  the  same  "  ;  and 
the  difficulty  ended.  After  a  ministry  of  upwards  of  forty- 
four  years,  he  died  at  Northfield  in  1794,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight. 

HUBBARD,  WILLIAM.  At  the  peace  he  went  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  and  wTas  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  set 
tled  in  the  county  of  Sunbury,  and  was  Register  of  Deeds 
and  Wills  ;  Deputy  Surrogate  ;  member  of  the  House  of 
Assembly  ;  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 
He  died  in  that  county  in  1813. 


552  HUBBARD.  —  HUCK. 

HUBBABD,  ADAM.  Of  Schoharie,  New  York.  Was  re 
peatedly  made  prisoner  in  his  own  house.  For  a  time, 
keeper  of  the  light-house  on  Sandy  Hook.  Removed  to 
Shelhurne,  Nova  Scotia,  and  was  drowned  there  in  1784. 
His  widow  removed  to  Yarmouth.  His  daughter  Margaret, 
widow  of  Ethel  Davis,  died  in  1859,  aged  ninety-five. 

HUBBARD,  ISAAC.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and,  at 
his  decease,  was  the  senior  magistrate  of  the  county  of  Sun- 
bury.  He  died  at  Burton,  1834,  aged  eighty-six. 

HUBBARD,  NATHANIEL.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  in  1783,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  He  removed 
to  the  parish  of  Burton,  county  of  Sunbury,  where  he  was 
a  magistrate,  and  where  he  died  in  1824,  aged  seventy-eight. 

HUBBEL,  -  — .  A  captain  under  the  Board  of  Asso 
ciated  Loyalists  at  New  York.  In  the  spring  of  1781  he 
was  stationed  at  Lloyd's  Neck  ;  but  was  in  the  habit,  it 
would  seem,  of  putting  his  command  in  whale-boats  and 
making  incursions  by  water.  The  Board,  in  reporting  the 
proceedings  of  this  "  spirited  Loyalist,"  state  in  detail  the 
incidents  of  burning  guard-houses,  of  destroying  mills,  flour, 
and  salt-works  ;  of  carrying  off  sheep  and  cattle,  and  of  the 
courage  he  displayed  when  in  conflict  with  the  "  Rebels." 

HUBBEL,  AMMON.  Served  on  the  Royal  side  under  Colonel 
Ludlow.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick,  1783  ;  died  at  Burton 
in  that  Province  in  1848,  aged  ninety,  leaving  numerous 
descendants. 

HUBBEL,  NATHAN.  Of  Fairfield  County,  Connecticut. 
At  the  peace,  a  large  part  of  the  town  of  Guysborough, 
Nova  Scotia,  was  granted  to  him  and  two  hundred  and  sev 
enty-eight  others,  who,  during  the  war,  had  been  connected 
with  the  civil  department  of  the  Royal  Army  and  Navy. 
He  was  twice  married,  and,  as  is  said,  the  father  of  nine 
teen  children. 

HUCK,  CHRISTIAN.  A  lawyer,  of  Philadelphia.  He  aban 
doned  that  city  and  went  within  the  British  lines  at  New 
York.  In  the  course  of  the  war,  he  joined  Tarleton  at  the 
South,  and  was  a  captain  of  dragoons.  He  was  killed  in  an 


HUDKINS.  —  HUGHES.  553 

affray  with  a  party  he  was  sent  to  disperse,  in  1780.  At  the 
very  moment  of  the  attack  in  which  lie  was  slain,  several 
women  were  on  their  knees,  imploring  him  to  spare  their 
families  and  their  property.  During  his  command,  he  had 
distressed  the  people  by  every  kind  of  insult  and  injury. 
He  was  so  profane  as  to  say  that,  "  God  Almighty  was 
turned  Rebel  ;  but  if  there  were  twenty  Gods  on  their  side, 
they  should  all  be  conquered."  Attainted  of  treason  and 
property  confiscated.  "  A  miscreant  who  excited  universal 
abhorrence  for  his  cruelty  and  profanity."  Known  as  the 
"  Swearing  Captain." 

HUDKINS,  -  — .  Corporal  in  the  Queen's  Rangers. 
Fell,  covered  with  wounds,  and  died  on  the  field. 

HUGHES,  JOHN.  Of  Philadelphia.  In  1765  he  was  ap 
pointed  Stamp-Master  of  Pennsylvania,  but  seemingly  declined. 
The  Whigs  thought  he  was  insincere  ;  and  when  his  commis 
sion  arrived,  the  bells  were  muffled,  the  colors  set  at  half-mast, 
and,  fearing  harm  to  his  person,  some  friends  who  were  armed 
guarded  his  house.  The  multitude  waited  upon  him  and  com 
pelled  him  to  resign.  It  was  insinuated  that  Franklin  was 
too  indifferent  as  to  the  operation  of  the  Stamp  Act ;  and  that 
the  family  of  Hughes,  offended  at  the  Doctor's  course,  subse 
quently  preserved  letters  for  the  purpose  of  accusation.  On 
the  death  of  James  Nevin,  Collector  of  the  Customs  at  Ports- 
month,  New  Hampshire,  in  1769,  Mr.  Hughes  succeeded  to 
that  office.  In  common  with  officers  of  the  Customs  of  other 
ports,  lie  encountered  difficulties  in  executing  his  duties  ;  and 
property  which  he  seized  was  rescued  by  disguised  men,  armed 
with  clubs.  In  1772  he  returned  to  Philadelphia. 

HUGHES,  SAMUEL.  Of  Boston.  He  was  one  of  the  fifty- 
eight  Boston  memorialists  in  1760,  but  followed  the  Royal 
Army  to  Halifax  in  1776.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and 
banished.  In  1784  administration  was  granted  John  Hazen 
on  the  estate  of  a  Loyalist  of  this  name,  who  died  on  the 
river  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Samuel, 
of  Boston,  died  at  that  town  in  1795,  aged  seventy-six. 

HUGHES,  JOSEPH.     Of  North  Carolina.     Allowed  by  the 
VOL.  i.  47 


554  HUGHSON.  -  HUMPHREYS. 

Provincial  Congress,  April,  1770,  to  live  in  the  county  of 
Mecklenburg,  on  condition  of  giving  security  for  good  be 
havior.  In  Council  of  Safety,  (September  13,  1776,)  on 
petition  of  Mary,  his  wife,  his  case  was  heard  ;  and  ordered 
that  he  depart  to  Salisbury,  there  to  appear  once  every  day 
at  the  house  of  Maxwell  Chambers,  and  that  he  enter  into 
bond  and  security  in  £500. 

HUGHSON,  JOSHUA.  Of  New  York.  Settled  in  New 
Brunswick,  and  died  there. 

HULTON,  HENRY.  Of  Boston.  Commissioner  of  the  Cus 
toms.  The  only  trace  of  him  prior  to  the  establishment  of 
the  Board  of  four  Commissioners,  is  in  1760,  when  I  find  he 
was  member  of  a  "  Commission  for  settling  the  Accounts  of 
Contractors  in  the  German  War." 

At  the  evacuation,  March,  1776,  he  embarked  with  the 
Royal  Army  for  Halifax,  accompanied  by  his  family  of  eleven 
persons  ;  and  in  July  of  the  same  year  he  sailed  for  England 
in  the  ship  Aston  Hall.  In  1778  he  \vas  proscribed  and  ban 
ished,  and  in  1779  included  in  the  Conspiracy  Act.  He  died 
at  Andover,  England,  in  1790. 

HUMBERT,  STEPHEN.  He  was  born  in  New  Jersey.  Dur 
ing  the  war  he  was  in  the  city  of  New  York.  At  the  peace 
he  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of 
that  city.  He  lias  been  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  alder 
man  of  St.  John,  and  captain  in  the  militia.  In  the  war  of 
1812  he  was  in  commission  in  the  preventive  service.  Sub 
sequently,  he  was  attached  to  the  treasury  department  of  the 
Province.  He  died  at  St.  John  in  1849,  aged  eighty-two. 

HUMPHRIES,  NICHOLAS.  A  physician.  He  was  a  surgeon 
in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers  ;  settled  in  New  Brunswick, 
and  died  at  Sugar  Island  in  the  year  1822. 

HUMPHREYS,  JAMES,  JR.  Was  the  son  of  a  conveyancer, 
and  was  educated  at  the  college  in  Philadelphia.  He  com 
menced  the  study  of  medicine,  but  disliking  the  profession, 
learned  the  art  of  printing;  and  in  January  of  1775,  com 
menced  the  publication  of  a  newspaper  called  the  "  Pennsyl 
vania  Ledger,"  which,  it  was  said,  was  under  the  influence  of 


II  UNLOCK.  —  HUNT.  555 

the  friends  of  the  British  Government.  He  was,  in  conse 
quence,  in  the  hands  of  the  people  several  times  ;  but  he  had 
good  friends  among  the  Whigs,  of  whom  the  celebrated  Rit- 
tenhouse  was  one.  In  November,  1770,  "  I  received,"  he 
said,  "  an  anonymous  note  to  leave  town  immediately  —  which 
I  had  scarcely  done,  before  my  house  was  surrounded  by  fifty 
musqueteers  ;  who,  not  finding  me,  seized  my  brother,  and  sent 
him  under  guard  to  the  common  jail,  and  made  my  father 
prisoner,  on  parole,  to  his  house.  In  this  disagreeable  situa 
tion  did  we  remain  till  the  arrival  of  the  British  troops."  Tn 
the  same  letter,  which  is  dated  at  New  York,  November,  1783, 
he  wrote  :  "  I  am  now  a  second  time  in  exile,  and  unhappily 
in  a  worse  situation  than  my  former,  being  obliged  to  leave 
a  wife  behind  me  and  all  my  effects  ....  the  fruits  of 

hard  industry I  am  entirely  out  of  business,  and 

what  little  cash  I  brought  with  me  dwindling;  fast."     After 

O  O 

the  peace  he  went  to  England,  thence  to  Shelburne,  Nova 
Scotia,  but  returned  to  Philadelphia  in  1797,  opened  a  print 
ing  house,  and  was  engaged  in  book  printing  until  his  death 
in  February,  1810. 

HUNLOCK,  THOMAS.  In  1782  he  was  a  captain  in  the 
Second  Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  He  retired  on 
half-pay,  and  was  in  New  Brunswick  after  the  war  ;  but  left 
the  Province,  and  —  it  is  believed  —  returned  to  the  United 
States. 

HUNT,  ISAAC.  Of  Philadelphia.  A  mob  seized  him  and 
carted  him  through  the  streets.  He  escaped  ill  usage  by  com 
mending  the  multitude  for  their  forbearance  and  civility.  In 
an  hour  or  two  he  was  returned  unharmed  to  his  dwelling. 
From  a  long  article  in  a  newspaper  of  the  time,  I  extract  the 
following  words  :  "  The  day  before  he  was  carted,  he  had 
the  effrontery  to  go  into  a  gentleman's  store  and  take  up  a 
book,  entitled  '  Trials  for  High  Treason  ;  '  and  in  a  sneering, 
insulting  manner,  asked  him,  if  this  would  not  be  a  proper 
book  for  Mr.  Adams  to  peruse?  "  He  soon  after  went  to  the 
West  Indies,  where  lie  took  Church  orders.  Subsequently  he 
removed  to  England,  and  was  tutor  in  the  family  of  the  Duke 


556  HUNT.  —  HUNTER. 

of  Chandos.  His  wife  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Stephen  Shew- 
ell,  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  whose  sister  was  the  wife  of 
Benjamin  West.  Mr.  Hunt  was  the  father  of  Leigh  Hunt, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  literary  men  of  England  at 
the  present  time,  who  died  in  London,  in  1859,  aged 
seventy-four.  J.  Thornton  Hunt,  son  of  Leigh,  formerly 
editor  of  the  "  Spectator  and  Morning  Chronicle,"  is  now 
(1860)  in  the  United  States. 

Speaking  of  Leigh  Hunt  and  his  American  blood,  Haw 
thorne  says,  "  his  person  wras  thoroughly  American,  and  of 
the  best  type,  as  were  likewise  his  manners  ;  for  we  are  the 
best  —  as  well  as  the  worst  — mannered  people  in  the 
world  !  " 

HUNT,  JOHN.  Of  Philadelphia.  In  1777  he  was  ordered 
to  be  sent  prisoner  to  Virginia,  for  disaffection  to  the  Whig 
cause.  During  the  proceedings  against  him,  he  demanded  a 
hearing  before  the  President  and  Council,  because,  he  said, 
imprisonment  without  trial  was  unlawful.  A  Loyalist  of  this 
name  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Guides  and  Pioneers. 

HUNT,  COSBY.  Of  New  York.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieu 
tenant  in  the  New  York  Volunteers,  and  adjutant  of  the 
corps.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  received  half-pay. 
He  was  drowned  in  the  river  St.  John  previous  to  the  year 
1805. 

HUNT,  WILLIAM.  Of  North  Castle,  West  Chester  County, 
New  York.  He  took  shelter  with  De  Lancey's  corps ;  and 
at  the  peace  returned  to  his  estate,  protected,  as  he  averred, 
by  the  6th  article  of  the  treaty.  But  he  was  arrested  and 
tried  on  eleven  suits  for  trespasses  committed  by  him,  as  was 
alleged  while  in  service  and  belonging  to  the  "  Cow  Boys." 
The  plaintiffs  all  recovered  judgment,  and  he  was  cast  into 
prison.  In  January,  1786,  he  claimed  the  interposition  of  the 
British  Consul  of  New  York,  at  whose  instance  the  facts 
were  examined  by  Mr.  Jay,  who  expressed  the  opinion  that 
Congress  need  not  interfere  in  the  matter,  or  even  give  an 
answer. 

HUNTER,    JOHN.       Of  Norfolk,    Virginia.      "  An   active 


HUNTER.  -  HUSTON.  557 

man  ;  "  and  in  December,  1775,  aide-de-camp  to  Lord  Dun- 
more.  In  July,  177(5,  a  refugee  with  his  family,  on  board 
the  brigantine  Hammond,  one  of  the  vessels  of  his  Lordship's 
fleet  on  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake.  Mr.  Hunter  went  to 
England  previous  to  July,  1779. 

HUXTER,  WILLIAM.  Of  Virginia.  His  father,  whose 
name  was  William,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  was  a 
printer,  at  Williamsburg,  to  the  House  of  Burgesses;  and 
having  a  relative  who  was  paymaster  to  the  King's  troops  in 
America,  obtained  the  appointment  of  Deputy  Postmaster- 
Genenil  for  the  Colonies  under  Franklin,  which  office  he  held 
until  his  death,  in  1701.  The  subject  of  this  notice  attained 
to  his  majority  about  the  time  the  Revolution  began,  and 
being  a  Loyalist,  attached  himself  to  the  British  standard, 
and  eventually  left  the  country. 

HUNTINGTON,  MINOR.  Of  Connecticut.  Went  to  Nova 
Scotia  at  the  peace,  settled  at  Yarmouth,  where  he  was  a 
surveyor,  prothonotary,  and  an  officer  in  the  militia.  He  died 
about  the  year  1845.  Herbert  Huntington,  his  son,  is  a  lead 
ing  Liberal  politician  in  that  Province. 

HUSTOX,  JOSHUA.  The  leader  of  a  party  of  u  New  York 
horse-thieves."  In  1778,  in  an  adventure  to  West  Chester 
County,  he  and  three  others  attempted  to  break  into  the  house 
of  a  Whig,  who,  acquainted  with  the  design,  resolved  to  defend 
himself.  Huston,  while  entering  a  window,  was  stabbed  and 
carried  to  a  fellow  Tory's,  where  he  died  and  was  buried  in  a 
field.  Those  who  had  suffered  at  his  hands  threatened  to 
search  for  his  body,  and  if  they  found  it,  to  hang  it  upon  a 
gallows. 

HUSTON,  ROBERT.  Of  Pennsylvania.  lie  was  born  in 
Ireland,  and  came  to  America  while  young.  He  settled 
near  Philadelphia,  as  a  farmer.  In  the  Revolution  he  be 
longed  to  a  troop  of  heavy  dragoons,  and  was  often  engaged 
in  skirmishes  in  New  Jersey  and  West  Chester  County,  New 
York.  At  the  peace,  accompanied  by  his  family,  he  went 
from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Crown 
granted  him  one  farm,  one  town  and  one  water  lot.  He 

47* 


558  HUTCHINSON. 

settled  at  Yarmouth  in  the  same  Province,  subsequently,  and 
engaged  in  navigation  and  trade.  He  died  in  1842,  aged 
eighty-eight,  leaving  two  children,  one  of  whom  is  (1861) 
the  wife  of  Edward  K.  Timpany,  Esq.,  of  Digby. 

HUTCHINSON,  THOMAS.  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  His 
father  was  Honorable  Thomas  Hutchinson,  a  merchant,  and 
member  of  the  Council,  who  died  in  1739.  The  subject  of 
this  notice  was  born  in  1711,  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
University  in  1727,  and  applied  himself  to  commerce.  Un 
successful  as  a  merchant,  he  devoted  himself  to  politics,  and 
rose  to  the  highest  distinction,  having  been  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  Speaker  of  that  body  ;  Judge 
of  Probate  ;  member  of  the  Council  ;  Lieutenant-Governor  ; 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  ;  and  Governor.  The  regu 
larity  of  his  life,  his  sympathy  for  the  distressed,  his  affa 
bility,  his  integrity,  his  industry,  his  talents  for  business  and 
the  administration  of  affairs,  his  fluency  and  grace  as  a  pub 
lic  speaker,  his  command  of  temper  and  courteousness  under 
provocation  ;  united  to  form  a  rare  man,  and  to  give  him  a 
rare  influence.  A  Judge  of  the  highest  Judicial  Court,  a 
member  of  the  Council,  and  Lieutenant-Governor  at  the 
same  time,  —  he  seems  to  have  performed  the  duties  of  these 
incompatible  offices  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  community. 
And  the  fact  that,  unlike  most  of  the  Crown  officers,  he  was 
a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  not  of  the  Episcopal  com 
munion,  added  to  his  popularity. 

The  Revolution  produced  a  fearful  change  of  sentiment, 
and  he  became  an  exile  ;  was  attainted,  and  lost  his  pro 
perty  by  confiscation.  His  political  ruin  gave  him  incon 
ceivable  anguish,  and  prematurely  closed  his  life.  There 
were  tales,  indeed,  that  his  death  was  produced  by  his  own 
act ;  but  this  is  not  probable.  After  his  retirement  to  Eng 
land,  a  baronetcy  was  offered  him,  but  he  declined  it.  He 
died  in  1780,  aged  sixty-nine,  and  was  buried  at  Croydon, 
England.  It  may  not  be  possible  to  form  a  correct  opinion 
of  the  character  and  motives  of  action  of  Governor  Hutchin 
son.  But  I  cannot  think  that  his  contemporaries  among  the 


HUTCIIINSON.  559 

Whigs  did  him  exact  justice.  The  spontaneous  and  uni 
versal  respect  in  which  he  was  held  by  all  parties,  previous 
to  the  Revolutionary  controversy,  —  the  long,  faithful,  and 
highly  valuable  services  which  he  rendered  his  native  Colony, 
—  surely  entitled  him  to  honorable  mention  then,  and  to  our 
regard  now.  Had  he  lived  at  any  other  period,  his  claim 
to  be  included  among  the  worthies  of  Massachusetts  would 
not,  probably,  be  doubted.  It  is  to  be  deeply  lamented,  that, 
being  the  son  of  a  merchant,  himself  bred  a  merchant,  and 
his  own  sons  merchants,  he  did  not  see,  or  would  not  see, 
that  if  the  navigation  acts  and  laws  of  trade  were  enforced, 
the  commerce  of  the  Colonies  would  be  ruined  at  a  blow. 
His  position  enabled  him  to  have  prevented  the  enforcement 
of  the  hated  measures  of  commercial  restriction,  and  lie  is 
hardly  to  be  held  excused  for  using  his  influence  on  the 
adverse  side.  As  a  historian,  no  man  was  more  familiar  with 
the  opposition  to  these  laws  when  Randolph  and  Andros,  a 
century  before,  attempted  to  fasten  them  upon  New  England  ; 
and  he  knew,  that  all  that  a  single  Colony  could  do,  to  shake 
off  the  Royal  authority,  was  done  by  Massachusetts,  in  the 
time  of  these  hated  emissaries  of  the  British  Crown.  Could 
he  have  thought  that  the  opposition  of  his  countrymen 
\vould  be  less,  in  his  own  time,  when  they  were  required  to 
sacrifice  an  extensive  and  rich  commerce,  —  a  commerce 
unlawful  by  the  statute  book,  but  yet  permitted,  for  a  long 
course  of  years,  by  the  officers  of  the  customs  ?  It  does  not 
appear  probable.  And  yet,  how  is  his  pertinacious  adherence 
to  the  measures  of  the  ministry  to  be  accounted  for  ?  Did 
he  think  the  measures  just  ?  The  Whigs  of  his  generation 
almost  unanimously  believed  that  he  knew  that  the  servants 
of  the  King  were  in  the  wrong,  but  that  his  ambition,  and 
full  confidence  that  he  espoused  the  winning  side,  caused  his 
assent  to,  and  support  of,  their  acts.  It  may  be  so.  His 
private  virtues,  his  historical  labors,  his  high  station,  his 
commanding  influence,  his  sorrows,  have  an  interest  which 
none  who  are  acquainted  with  his  life  can  fail  to  feel.  The 
third  volume  of  his  "  History  of  Massachusetts,''  which  em- 


560  HUTCHINSON. 

braces  his  own  career,  is,  if  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  written  are  considered,  a  work  of  singular  moderation  and 
fairness  ;  and  its  statements  are  to  be  received,  probably,  with 
quite  as  much  respect  as  the  records  of  any  gentleman  who 
writes  of  his  own  times,  his  own  deeds,  and  his  own  enemies. 
I  can  never  cease  to  regret  that  Governor  Hutchinson  coun 
tenanced  the  revival  of  the  long-obsolete  statutory  provisions, 
affect  in  «^  the  navigation  and  maritime  interests  of  his  country. 
I  forget,  in  his  melancholy  end,  all  else. 

HUTCHINSON,  THOMAS,  JR.  Of  Massachusetts.  Son  of 
Governor  Hutchinson.  He  was  a  merchant  of  Boston,  and 
a  third  part  of  the  tea  destroyed  there  was  consigned  to  him 
and  his  brother  Elisha.  He  was  a  Mandamus  Councillor,  and 
an  Addresser  of  Gage  ;  and  was  proscribed  and  banished.  He 
went  to  England,  and  died  there  in  1811,  aged  seventy-one. 

HUTCHINSON,  ELISHA.  Of  Massachusetts.  Brother  and 
commercial  partner  of  Thomas  Hutchinson,  Jr.  He  graduated 
at  Harvard  University  in  1762.  He  was  proscribed  and  ban 
ished.  He  died  in  England  in  1824,  aged  eighty.  His  wife 
Mary,  who  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Colonel  George  Wat 
son,  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  died  at  Birmingham,  Eng 
land,  in  1803. 

HUTCHINSON,  FOSTER.  Of  Massachusetts.  Brother  of 
Governor  Hutchinson.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  University 
in  1743.  Raised  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  was 
one  of  the  last  of  the  Royal  Judges  of  that  Colony.  His 
name  appears  among  the  Mandamus  Councillors,  among  those 
who  were  proscribed  and  banished,  and  among  those  whose 
estates  were  confiscated.  He  went  to  Halifax  in  1776,  with 
his  family  of  twelve  persons.  He  died  in  Nova  Scotia  in  1799. 
His  son  Foster,  an  Assistant  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
that  Colony,  died  in  1815  ;  and  his  daughter  Abigail  deceased 
at  Halifax,  July,  1843,  aged  seventy-four. 

HUTCHINSON,  ELIAKIM.  Of  Boston.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1730  ;  and  became  a  member  of  the 
Council,  and  the  Judge  of  a  Court.  He  died  in  1775.  His 
widow,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Governor  Shirley,  died  at 


IIUTCIIINSON.  —  INGERSOLL.  5(31 

London  in  1790.  Mr.  Hutchison  was  owner  of  the  mansion 
in  Roxbury  built  by  his  father-in-law,  which  became  the  prop 
erty  of  Governor  Eustis,  and  which  is  now  (1864)  occupied 
by  his  relict. 

HUTCHINSON,  WILLIAM.  Of  Massachusetts.  He  grad 
uated  at  Harvard  University  in  17(32.  In  1775  he  went  to 
England,  and  subsequently  held  an  office  in  the  Bahamas. 
He  died  in  1791,  in  Europe.  A  son,  it  is  believed,  of  Hon. 
Foster  Ilutchinson. 

HUTCHINSON,  WILLIAM.  In  1782  he  was  captain  lieuten 
ant  of  the  First  Battalion  of  New  Jersey  Volunteers.  He 
retired  on  half-pay,  and  lived  in  Newr  Brunswick  ;  but  re 
moved  to  Upper  Canada,  where  he  died. 

HUTCIIINSON,  MATTHEW.  Went  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia, 
in  1783,  and  died  soon  after. 

HUTTON,  WILLIAM.  Died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1799,  aged  forty-two.  The  surname  may  be  Hulton. 

HYSON,  MICHAEL.  Of  Pennsylvania.  He  went  to  Nova 
Scotia  during  hostilities.  He  married  when  upwards  of  a 
hundred  years  old.  He  died  at  Ship  Harbor,  Nova  Scotia,  in 
1833,  aged  one  hundred  and  three.  His  third  wife  survived 
him,  as  also  numerous  descendants  of  the  second,  third,  and 
fourth  generations  from  him. 

ILIFF, .  Taken  prisoner  in  New  Jersey,  tried,  and 

hanged. 

O 

INGERSOLL,  JARED.  Of  Connecticut.  He  was  born  in 
Milford,  Connecticut,  in  1722.  In  1742  he  graduated  at 
Yale  College.  He  settled  in  New  Haven,  and  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  the  law.  In  1757  he  was  agent  of  the  Colony 
in  England.  In  1765  he  received  the  appointment  of  Stamp- 
distributor,  and  arrived  at  Boston  on  his  way  to  enter  upon 
the  duties  of  the  office.  While  at  Boston,  many  attentions 
were  paid  to  him  ;  and  on  his  departure,  Mr.  Oliver,  who  had 
received  the  same  appointment  for  Massachusetts,  accompanied 
him  out  of  town.  This  act  occasioned  murmuring  among  the 
people  ;  an  inflammatory  article  appeared  in  the  next  "  Boston 
Gazette  : "  labels  were  posted  on  the  Liberty  Tree ;  and, 


562  INGERSOLL. 

finally,  a  mob  destroyed  Oliver's  building,  designed  for  his 
stamp-office. 

In  Connecticut,  matters  reached  the  same  extremity  ;  and 
it  was  threatened  before  his  arrival  there,  that  he  should  be 
hung  on  the  first  tree  after  he  entered  the  Colony.  Though 
this  threat  was  not  executed,  effigies  of  his  person  were  made 
in  several  places,  tried  in  form,  and  condemned  to  be  burned. 
Mr.  Ino-ersoll  formally  resigned  his  office  at  New  Haven,  in 
August,  176-") :  but  his  resignation  was  not  deemed  satisfac 
tory  to  the  people  of  another  section  ;  and  a  large  body  set 
out  for  that  town  with  a  determination  to  compel  a  more  ex 
plicit  declaration  of  his  intentions.  They  met  him  at  Weath- 
ersfield,  where  they  obtained  the  required  satisfaction  ;  and 
extorted  from  him  the  cry,  three  times,  "  Liberty  and  Prop 
erty."  Hundreds  then  escorted  him  to  Hartford.  About  the 
year  1770  he  was  commissioned  Judge  of  Vice- Admiralty  for 
the  Colonies  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Mary 
land,  and  Virginia,  and  removed  to  Philadelphia. 

In  1777,  he,  John  Adams,  and  several  others,  boarded  with 
a  widow  in  Philadelphia,  who  had  buried  four  husbands,  and 
was  ready  for  a  fifth.  The  lion-hearted  Whig  said  :  "  Be 
tween  the  fun  of  Thornton,  the  gravity  of  Sherman,  and  the 
formal  toryism  of  Ingersoll,  Adams  will  have  a  curious  life  of 
it/' 

The  Revolution  put  an  end  to  Mr.  Ingersoll's  duties,  and 
he  returned  to  Connecticut.  He  died  at  New  Haven,  1781, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-nine.  His  son  Jared,  a  gentleman  of  dis 
tinguished  worth  and  talents,  held  various  public  stations,  and 
was  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  United  States 
in  1812. 

INGKRSOLL,  DAVID.  Of  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts. 
He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1761.  His  name  appears 
among  the  barristers  and  attorneys  who  addressed  Hutchinson 
in  1774.  He  was  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778.  During 
the  troubles  which  preceded  the  shedding  of  blood,  he  was 
seized  by  a  mob,  carried  to  Connecticut,  and  imprisoned  ; 
while,  on  a  second  outbreak  of  the  popular  displeasure  against 


INGLEBY.  —  1XGLIS.  5GB 

him,  his  house  was  assailed,  lie  was  driven  from  it,  and  his 
enclosures  were  laid  waste.  He  went  to  England,  and  died 
there  in  171M.J,  aged  fifty-seven.  lie  married,  in  178o,  Frances 
Rebecca  Ryley,  who  survived  him  less  than  three  months. 
He  left  two  sons,  Philip  Ryley,  who  died  in  1808,  leaving 
issue  ;  and  Frederick  Horton,  who  was  living  in  1853. 

INGLEJJY,  THOMAS.  Died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1818,  aged  fifty-four.  Eliza,  his  wife,  died  at  the  same 
place,  1811,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven. 

INGLIS,  REV.  CHARLES,  D.  D.  Of  New  York.  Episcopal 
Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia.  He  became  an  Assistant  Rector  of 
Trinity  Church,  New  York,  in  17(>4,  and  continued  to  offici 
ate  until  Washington  took  possession  of  that  city,  in  177(3, 
when  he  went  up  the  Hudson  River.  On  the  decease  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Auchmuty,  in  1777,  he  succeeded  as  Rector.  The  church 
had  been  burned,  and  he  was  inducted  into  office  by  placing 
his  hands  on  the  ruins,  in  presence  of  the  wardens,  and  taking 
the  usual  obligations.  He  resigned  in  1783.  It  is  here  stated, 
on  his  authoritv,  that,  with  a  single  exception,  all  the  Episco 
pal  missionaries  were  faithful  to  the  Crown.  He  published 
an  answer  (1776)  to  Paine's  "  Common  Sense,"  which  the 
Whigs  seized  and  burned ;  but  two  editions  were  printed  sub 
sequently  at  Philadelphia. 

Washington,   designing    to   attend  his  church,   soon    after 

t5  O  O 

assuming  command  in  New  York  sent  word  by  one  of  his 
Generals  that  he  would  be  glad  to  have  the  prayers  for  the 
King  and  Royal  family  omitted.1  To  this  message  Mr.  Inglis 
paid  no  attention  ;  and,  on  seeing  the  Whig  Chief  not  long 
after,  remonstrated  with  him  on  the  unreasonableness  of  the 
request,  saying  that  he  must  know  the  clergy  could  not  com 
ply  with  it ;  that  he  could  shut  up  the  churches,  but  was  with 
out  the  power  to  make  the  ministers  depart  from  their  duty. 
Afterwards,  Mr.  Inglis,  as  he  passed  the  streets,  was  called  a 
Tory,  a  traitor  to  his  country,  and  threatened  with  violence 

1  This  tact  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  letters  sent  by  Episcopal  mis 
sionaries  in  America  to  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel;  and  must 
have  been  communicated  by  Mr.  Inglis  himself. 


564  INGLIS. 

if  lie  continued  to  pray  for  the  King.  At  last,  to  silence  him, 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  armed  men  entered  his  church  on 
Sunday,  with  bayonets  fixed,  drums  beating,  and  fifes  playing, 
and  stood  in  the  aisle  a  few  minutes  ;  when,  on  invitation  of 
the  sexton,  they  took  seats  in  the  pews.  The  congregation 
were  in  consternation,  and  several  women  fainted  ;  but  Mr. 
Inglis  continued  the  service,  and  read  the  offensive  prayers  as 
usual,  though  some  of  his  flock  expected  that  he  would  be 
shot.  In  August,  1776,  he  retired  to  Long  Island,  where  he 
was  met  by  the  Whig  Committee,  who  entered  into  a  discus 
sion  about  seizing  him.  To  avoid  this,  he  kept  concealed  as 
much  as  possible  until  Washington's  defeat,  when  he  was  at 
liberty,  and  without  apprehensions.  He  followed  the  Royal 
Army  to  New  York,  and  found  that  his  house  had  been  plun 
dered  of  everything  of  value.  In  September,  1776,  as  already 
mentioned,  Trinity  Church  was  burned,  with  nearly  one  thou 
sand  other  buildings.  The  Tories  accused  that  the  fire  wras 
the  work  of  Rebels,  who  secreted  themselves  for  the  purpose, 
and  who  applied  the  torch  in  different  parts  of  the  city  at  the 
same  moment,  by  concert. 

November  28,  1776,  Mrs.  Inglis  was  at  New  Windsor,  and 
asked  Mr.  Duane,  by  letter,  to  procure  leave  for  her  to  join 
her  husband  in  New  York,  with  her  family  and  effects.  She 
had  been  absent,  she  said,  nearly  fourteen  months,  had  three 
helpless  babes,  was  greatly  distressed,  and  had  need  of  every 
friend  to  comfort  her.  Besides  his  wife  and  these  children, 
his  family  consisted  at  this  time  of  Mrs.  Crooke,  (his  mother- 
in-law,)  two  white  servant-women,  a  nurse,  and  a  white  ser 
vant-boy.  All,  finally,  joined  him,  under  a  flag  of  truce. 

After  Galloway,  the  great  Pennsylvania  Loyalist,  went  to 
England,  Doctor  Inglis  was  a  correspondent,  and  his  letters 
evince  no  little  harshness.  I  give  one  of  his  predictions.  In 
a  letter,  dated  at  New  York,  December,  1778,  he  said  :  "  The 
rebellion,  be  assured,  is  on  the  decline ;  its  vigor  and  its  re 
sources  are  nearly  spent,  and  nothing  but  a  little  perseverance, 
and  a  moderate  share  of  prudence  and  exertion  on  the  part  of 
Britain,  is  necessary  to  suppress  it  totally." 


INGLTS.  —  INGRAHAM.  565 

In  a  published  controversy  between  "  A  Consistent  Loyal 
ist  "  and  "  Viator,"  at  London,  in  1784,  lie  himself  is  treated 
with  severity. 

In  1787  he  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia ;  and  was 
the  first  Colonial  Bishop  in  the  British  dominions  in  any  part 
of  the  world.  He  was  consecrated  at  Lambeth.  In  1809  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Council.  He  died  in  181(3,  aged 
eighty-two.  His  wife  was  Margaret  Crooke,  "  a  lady  of  a 
very  ample  fortune,"  and  daughter  of  John  Crooke,  of  Ulster 
County,  New  York.  Mrs.  Inglis  died  in  1783,  aged  thirty- 
five,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness. 

Dr.  Inglis  and  his  wife  are  included  in  the  Confiscation  Act 
of  New  York.  His  eldest  daughter  married  Brenton  Halli 
burton,  Chief  Justice  of  Nova  Scotia.  Anne  married  the 
Rev.  George  Pidgeon,  and  died  at  Halifax  in  1827,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-one.  John,  a  son,  who  was  consecrated  Bishop 
of  Nova  Scotia,  and  appointed  a  member  of  the  Council  in 
1825,  died  at  London  in  1850.  His  grandson  —  son  of  the 
second  Bishop  —  Major-General  Sir  John  Eardley  Wilmot 
Inglis,  who  was  knighted  for  bis  gallant  defence  of  the  garri 
son  of  Lucknow,  in  the  late  Sepoy  rebellion,  died  in  Germany 
in  1862,  at  the  age  of  fifty. 

INGRAHAM,  DUNCAN.  Of  South  Carolina.  The  only 
Loyalist  of  his  family.  He  went  to  England  in  1774,  and  re 
mained  in  Europe  until  after  the  peace.  John  Adams  met  him 
several  times  in  Paris,  and  mentions  him  in  his  diary.  On 
Mr.  Ingraham's  return,  he  gave  his  adherence  to  the  new  Gov 
ernment  ;  and  allowed  his  son  William,  who  was  killed  at  the 
age  of  twenty,  to  enter  the  Navy.  His  nephew,  Duncan  N. 
Ingraham,  also  of  the  United  States  Navy,  was  widely  and 
justly  applauded  for  demanding  and  obtaining  the  release  of 
Koszta,  as  an  American  citizen.  This  nephew  was  promoted 
to  a  captaincy  in  1855,  and,  when  the  present  Rebellion  broke 
out,  was  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance.  Like  many 
others,  he  forsook  the  flag  under  which  he  had  received  many 
honors,  to  join  the  Rebels.  January  31,  1863,  with  Beauregard 
he  issued  an  "  official  proclamation,"  declaring  the  blockade 

VOL.    i.  48 


566  INGRAM.  —  IRVING. 

of  Charleston  to  be  raised  by  a  superior  force  of  the  States 
in  rebellion.  Captain  Ingraliam  married  Harriet  Rutledge 
Laurens,  of  South  Carolina,  a  granddaughter,  on  the  paternal 
side,  of  Henry  Laurens,  the  President  of  the  first  Continental 
Congress. 

INGRAM,  JAMES.  Of  Virginia.  Removed  to  Maryland  in 
1777  ;  went  to  England,  and  was  in  London,  July,  1779. 

IN  MAN,  GEORGE.  Of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1772,  and  became  an 
officer  in  the  British  Army.  He  died  in  1789. 

INMAN,  RALPH.  Of  Massachusetts,  and,  I  suppose,  of 
Cambridge.  He  was  an  Addresser  of  Gage  in  1775,  and,  early 
the  next  year,  a  refugee  in  Boston.  In  April,  1776,  his  arrest 
was  ordered  by  the  Council.  In  1784,  he  was  named  in  the 
Act  to  incorporate  the  Boston  Episcopal  Charitable  Society. 
He  died  at  Cambridge  in  1788,  aged  seventy-five.  Captain 
Linzee,  of  the  British  Navy,  married  a  daughter. 

INNIS,  ALEXANDER.  Colonel  of  the  South  Carolina  Royal 
ists.  In  1780  he  was  in  command  of  a  large  party  of  British 
and  Tories,  and  was  defeated  at  Musgrove's  Mills  on  the 
Enoree  River  ;  and  was  himself  wounded.  In  1782  he  was 
Inspector-General  of  Loyalist  forces. 

INSLEE, .  Of  New  Jersey.  Lieutenant  under  the 

Board  of  Associated  Loyalists  at  New  York.  Killed,  in  1781, 
in  the  attack  on  the  Wing  post  at  Tom's  River,  New  Jersey. 

IREUELL,  .  Lieutenant  of  "  the  armed  boatmen  " 

under  the  Board  of  Associated  Loyalists  at  New  York.  Killed, 
1781,  in  the  attack  on  the  Whigs  at  Tom's  River,  New  Jersey. 

IRELAND,  JOHN.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  In  1777 
he  was  taken  in  arms  at  Lloyd's  Neck,  and  retained  a  prisoner  ; 
but  in  the  spring  of  1778  he  was  allowed  to  return  home  to 
procure  clothing  and  other  necessaries,  on  condition  that  he 
should  deliver  himself  to  his  captors  in  thirty  days. 

IRVING,  ALEXANDER.  Of  South  Carolina.  At  one  time 
Inspector  of  Imports  and  Exports  at  Boston.  In  October, 
1775,  Receiver-General  of  Quit  Rents,  Charleston.  Taken 
prisoner  at  sea,  April,  1776,  and  carried  to  New  London, 
Connecticut.  Went  to  England  previous  to  July,  1779. 


IRVINE.  -  JACKSON.  567 

IRVINE,  -  — .  Of  South  Carolina.  Lieutenant-Gover 
nor.  Estate  confiscated  in  1782. 

IVES,  DAVID.  Of  Rhode  Island.  I  suppose  he  was  a 
captain  in  a  corps  called  the  Associated  Loyalists.  At  the 
peace  he  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee 
of  that  city. 

IVES,  JOHN.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Went  to  New  Brunswick, 
and  was  appointed  master-carpenter  of  ordnance.  He  died  at 
St.  John  in  1804,  aged  fifty-six. 

JACKSON,  RICHARD.  Of  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts. 
Of  this  man  there  is  a  singular  but  well-authenticated  story. 
Having"  adhered  to  the  Crown  from  a  conviction  of  duty,  he 
felt  bound  to  aid  his  Sovereign  in  suppressing  the  Rebellion, 
by  all  means  in  his  power.  When,  therefore,  the  news  reached 
him,  in  1777,  that  Colonel  Baum  was  advancing  with  a  body 
of  troops  towards  Bennington,  he  prepared  to  join  him.  In 
the  battle  of  Hoosac  —  erroneously  called  the  battle  of  Ben 
nington  —  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  sent  to  Great  Barring- 
tun,  then  the  shire  town  of  Berkshire  ;  and  by  General  Fel 
lows,  the  sheriff,  committed  to  prison.  The  county  jail  was 
in  so  ruinous  a  condition  that  Jackson  could  easily  escape  ; 
but  of  this  he  had  no  intention.  He  felt  that  he  had  acted 
right,  and  determined  to  abide  the  consequences.  After 
quietly  remaining  in  jail  a  few  days,  he  told  General  Fellows 
that  he  was  losing  his  time,  earned  nothing,  and  wished  per 
mission  to  go  out  to  work  in  the  daytime,  and  promised  to 
return  at  evening  and  be  confined  for  the  night.  His  great 
simplicity  and  honesty  of  character  led  the  sheriff  to  confide 
in  his  word.  Jackson  accordingly  \vent  out  to  labor  almost 
every  week-day,  for  some  months.  In  May  of  1778,  he  was 
to  be  tried  at  Springfield  for  high  treason,  and  General  Fel 
lows  made  the  necessary  preparations  to  conduct  him  to  that 
town  in  person.  But  Jackson  said,  "  he  could  go  alone  quite 
as  well,"  and  thus  save  the  sheriff  both  inconvenience  and 
expense.  Again,  General  Fellows  confided  in  his  integrity  ; 
and  he  commenced  his  journey.  In  the  woods  of  Ty ring- 
ham,  he  met  the  Hon.  T.  Edwards,  who  asked  him  the  object 


.508  JACKSON.  -  .7  AFFREY. 

of  his  travel.  Jackson  answered,  that  he  "was  going  to 
Springfield,  to  be  tried  for  his  life."  To  Springfield  he  did  go, 
was  tried  for  his  life,  found  guilty,  and  condemned  to  die. 
Application  was,  however,  made  to  the  executive  authority 
of  the  State  to  pardon  him.  But  it  was  reasoned  by  the 
members  of  the  Board,  that  the  facts  against  Jackson  were 
clear  and  incontestable,  that  his  crime  was  unquestionably 
hio;li  treason,  and  that,  if  he  were  pardoned,  all  others  who 
might  commit  the  same  crime  ought  to  meet  with  the  same 
clemency.  But  Mr.  Edwards,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Board,  told  the  story  of  meeting  Jackson,  with  great  partic 
ularity,  yet  without  embellishment.  The  simple  truth  moved 
the  hearts  of  his  associates,  and  their  feelings  as  men  pre 
vailed  against  reasons  of  State  policy.  Jackson  was  par 
doned,  and  returned  to  his  family. 

JACKSON,  WILLIAM.  Merchant,  of  Boston.  An  Addres 
ser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775  ;  was  pro 
scribed  and  banished  in  1778.  He  went  to  England,  where 
he  died  in  1810,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine. 

JACKSON,  —  — .  Marauder  and  murderer.  Executed  at 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1785.  At  the  scaffold  he  was 
contrite  for  his  sins,  and  said,  "  there  is  only  one  thing  he 
dared  not  hope  pardon  for  —  that  was  the  murder  of  Ben 
jamin  Mitchell.''  [See  John  Mitchell.']  Possibly  Jackson 
may  not  have  belonged  to  the  Royal  side,  but  was  "a  refu 
gee  "  at  the  peace,  for  his  crimes. 

JACKSON,  WILLIAM.  Of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Mer 
chant.  In  1782,  a  Loyalist  Associator  at  New  York,  to  re 
move  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  the  following  year.  Settled 
at  Woodstock,  New  Brunswick,  as  did  a  son.  His  grandson, 
Charles  Andrew  Jackson,  now  (1860)  lives  at  Eastport,  Maine. 
JACOJJS,  JOHN.  Executed  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
in  February,  1777,  for  issuing  counterfeit  money. 

JAFFREY,  GEORGE.  Of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. 
Graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1730.  He  became  a 
merchant.  In  1744  he  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  New  Hampshire,  and  held  that  office  twenty-two 


JAFFHEY.  —  JAMES.  5(J9 

years.  In  17(30  he  was  admitted  one  of  his  Majesty's 
Council,  and  soon  after  received  the  post  of  Treasurer  of 
the  Province.  He  possessed  a  large  estate,  and  was  one  of 
the  original  purchasers  of  Mason's  Patent.  He  was  molested 
on  account  of  his  political  opinions  several  times.  When 
removed  by  the  Whigs  from  the  office  of  Treasurer,  he  paid 
over  to  his  successor  .£1510  4*.  8(7.,  being  the  exact  balance 
of  public  moneys  in  his  hands.  He  was  ordered,  November, 
1775,  by  the  Provincial  Congress,  to  remove  ten  miles  at  least 
from  Portsmouth,  and  not  to  leave  the  place  selected  without 
leave  of  that  body,  or  the  Committee  of  Safety.  General 
Sullivan  interposed  and  wrote  the  Committee  that  Mr. 
JafYrey  had  assisted  in  the  construction  of  military  works, 
and  "  ought  not  in  justice  to  be  deemed  an  enemy  to  his 
country,  or  be  treated  as  such."  Though  opposed  for  his 
attachment  to  the  Crown,  he  left  behind  him  an  unsullied 
reputation  for  strict  integrity,  punctuality  in  his  dealings,  and 
correctness  of  manners.  He  died  at  Portsmouth  in  1802, 
aged  eighty-six  years. 

JAMES,  JACOB.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Captain  in  the  British 
Legion.  He  was  distinguished  as  a  partisan  in  the  winter  of 
1777,  and  was  particularly  active  in  kidnapping  Whigs  of 
note  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia.  He  was  also  extremely 
troublesome  to  the  country  as  a  horse-thief,  to  supply  the 
British  Army.  Subsequently,  his  troop  of  horse  joined  Tarle- 
ton's  corps.  In  April,  1780,  James  was  a  prisoner  in  North 
Carolina;  and  the  President  of  Pennsylvania  wrote  Governor 
Caswell,  asking  that  he  might  not  be  exchanged  as  a  common 
prisoner  of  war,  but  be  retained  in  close  custody  until  oppor 
tunity  occurred  to  send  him  home  for  trial,  where,  u  it  may 
be  presumed,  he  will  suffer  the  punishment  his  many  villanies 
and  offences  so  justly  deserve."  He  was  attainted  of  treason 
and  his  estate  confiscated. 

JAMES,  FRANK.      Pilot  to  the  Royal  fleet  in   New  York 
harbor.      Received  half-pay.     In  March,  1770>,  Lord  Stirling 
sent  a  secret  party  with  express  orders  to  take  or  destroy  him. 
Died  at  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  in  180(J. 
48* 


570  JAMES.  — JARVIS. 

JAMES,  JOHN.  Of  Pennsylvania.  An  emissary  of  Sir 
William  Howe.  In  1777  the  Council  of  Pennsylvania  trans 
mitted  to  Colonel  Smith  a  warrant  for  his  apprehension,  "  in 
order  to  his  condign  punishment." 

JAMES,  BENJAMIN,  and  ABEL.  Attainted  of  treason  ; 
property  of  the  latter  confiscated  ;  the  former  surrendered 
himself  and  was  discharged. 

There  was  also  in  the  city  of  New  York  a  Major  James, 
whose  house  was  attacked  and  plundered  by  a  mob. 

JAMES,  EDWARD.  A  lieutenant  in  the  King's  Orange 
Rangers.  Residence  unknown. 

JARVIS,  REV.  ABRAHAM.  Of  Connecticut.  Bishop  in  the 
Episcopal  Church.  He  was  born  at  Norwalk,  Connecticut, 
in  1739,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1761.  While 
prosecuting  his  theological  studies,  he  accepted  an  invitation 
to  officiate  as  lay-reader  at  Middletown  ;  and,  on  his  return 
from  England,  (where  he  was  ordained  in  1764)  he  was  set 
tled  there,  as  Rector  of  Christ  Church.  His  parish  was  united 
and  flourishing  until  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  when 
he  was  "  subjected  to  great  inconveniences  and  sore  trials." 
In  July,  1776,  he  presided  at  a  Convention  of  the  Episcopal 
Clergy  of  Connecticut,  "  at  which  it  was  resolved  to  suspend 
all  public  worship  in  their  churches,  as  it  would  be  unsafe  to 
continue  the  reading  of  the  entire  Liturgy."  In  1796  he  was 
appointed  successor  of  Bishop  Seabury,  but  declined.  Unan 
imously  elected  a  second  time,  however,  a  year  later,  he  ac 
cepted  the  office,  but  continued  Rector  at  Middletown  until 
1799,  when  he  removed  to  Cheshire.  In  1803  he  transferred 
his  residence  to  New  Haven.  He  died  in  1813,  in  his  seventy- 
fourth  year.  His  first  wife,  who  died  in  1801,  was  Ann, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Farmar,  of  New  York.  In  1806  he 
married  the  widow  of  Nathaniel  Lewis,  of  Philadelphia.  His 
son,  the  late  Samuel  Farmar  Jams,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  gradu 
ated  at  Yale  in  1805,  and  was  the  first  Rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Boston. 

JARVIS,  STEPHEN.  In  1782  he  was  a  lieutenant  of  cavalry 
in  the  South  Carolina  Royalists.  He  was  in  New  Brunswick 


JARVIS.  571 

after  the  Revolution,  but  went  to  Upper  Canada,  and  died 
at  Toronto,  at  the  residence  of  Rev.  Doctor  Phillips,  1840, 
aged  eighty-four.  During  his  service  in  the  Revolution  he 
was  in  several  actions. 

JARVIS,  MUNSON.  Of  Connecticut.  He  was  born  in  Nor- 
walk,  in  1742.  In  April,  177(5,  the  Committee  of  Inspection 
advertised  him  as  an  enemy  to  his  country.  December,  1783, 
a  warrant  was  issued  on  petition  of  the  Selectmen  of  Stam 
ford,  ordering  him  and  his  family  to  depart  that  town  without 
delay,  and  never  return.  lie  went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city.  In  1792  he  was  a 
member  of  the  vestry  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  At  a  later 
time,  lie  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Assembly.  He  died 
at  St.  John,  1825,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three.  His  son,  the 
Hon.  Edward  James  Jarvis,  was  formerly  a  member  of  the 
Council  of  New  Brunswick,  and  Chief  Justice  of  Prince  Ed- 
ward  Island  ;  died  at  Spring  Park,  in  that  Colony,  in  1852, 
aged  sixty-three  ;  universally  respected  for  his  upright  char 
acter  as  a  jurist,  and  for  the  urbanity  of  his  manners.  The 
Judge's  wife,  who  deceased  in  1847,  was  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Robert  Gray,  Treasurer  of  the  same  Colony. 

JARVIS,  SAMUEL.  Of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  Seized  in 
his  house  at  night,  and  with  his  family  put  into  a  boat,  and 
conveyed  to  Long  Island.  In  landing,  he  waded  waist-deep 
to  the  shore.  From  the  effects  of  this  affair  he  did  not 
recover,  though  he  survived  about  a  year.  He  died  Sep 
tember,  1780,  aged  sixty. 

JARVIS,  WILLIAM.  An  officer  of  cavalry  in  the  Queen's 
Rangers.  Wounded  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  At  the  peace 
he  settled  in  Upper  Canada,  and  became  Secretary  of  that 
Province.  He  died  at  York  in  1817.  His  widow,  Hannah, 
a  daughter  of  Rev.  Doctor  Peters,  of  Hebron,  Connecticut, 
died  at  Queenston,  Upper  Canada,  1845,  aged  eighty-three. 

JARVIS,  -  — .  Of  Danbury,  Connecticut.  Guide  to 
the  British  Army  across  the  country  to  that  town.  Went 
to  Nova  Scotia.  After  many  years,  in  the  hope  that  his 
offence  had  been  forgotten,  he  returned  ;  but  a  multitude 


572  JARVIS.  —  JAUNCEY. 

surrounded  his  father's  house,  prepared  to  tar  and  feather 
him.  Search  was  made  by  a  party  that  entered.  Concealed 
in  an  ash-oven  by  his  sister,  he  escaped,  and  never  again  set 
foot  in  his  native  place. 

JARVIS,  SAMUEL.  Of  Connecticut.  Warrant  issued  De 
cember,  1783,  on  petition  of  the  Selectmen  of  Stamford,  or 
dering  him  to  depart  that  town  and  never  return,  he  went 
to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a  grantee  of  that  city. 

JARVIS,  NATHANIEL.     Also  a  grantee  of  the  same  city. 

JARVIS,  ROBERT.  Of  Massachusetts.  An  Addresser  of 
Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775.  He  went  to 
Halifax  in  1776,  and  was  proscribed  and  banished  in  1778. 
He  was  in  London,  July,  1779,  a  Loyalist  Addresser. 

JARVIS,  JOHN.  A  Protester  against  the  Whigs  in  1774. 
A  Loyalist  of  the  same  Christian  name  settled  in  New  Bruns 
wick,  and  died  at  Portland,  in  that  Province,  in  1845,  aged 
ninety-three. 

JAUNOEY,  JAMES.  Of  New  York.  He,  like  Low  and 
Sherbrook,  was  an  associate  with  Jay  on  the  Committee  of 
Correspondence  of  Fifty,  and  probably,  at  the  outset,  was 
inclined  to  take  the  side  of  the  Whigs.  His  property  was 
confiscated.  In  1775  lie  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Assembly,  and  one  of  the  fourteen  of  that  body  who,  in  the 
recess,  addressed  General  Gage,  at  Boston,  on  the  subject 
of  "  the  unhappy  contest."  He  went  to  England,  and  died 

at  London  in  1790.     "  As  he  was  entering  the  door  of  Provi- 

s 

dence  Chapel  ....  he  dropped  down  and  expired  immedi 
ately.  He  was  an  American  Loyalist ;  wras  well  known  for  his 
constant  practice  of  relieving  the  poor  at  chapel  doors,  and  in 
the  street.  He  is  said  to  have  died  worth  £100,000."  His 
house  in  New  York  was  "  near  Betlmne  Street  of  our  day." 
JAUNCEY,  JAMES,  JR.  Of  New  York.  Son  of  James. 
In  1773  he  married  Miss  Elliot,  niece  of  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot, 
Treasurer  of  the  British  Navy,  and  was  soon  after  appointed 
Master  of  the  Rolls.  In  1775  he  was  sworn  in  as  a  member 
of  the  Council,  in  place  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  deceased. 
In  17 70,  he,  his  father,  and  mother,  were  prisoners  at  Mid- 


JAUNCEY.  —  JENKINS.  573 

dletown,  Connecticut.  He  applied  to  Washington  to  be 
released,  and  was  referred  to  the  Provincial  Congress.  In 
1777  he  died,  and  was  buried  in  Trinity  church-yard.  How 
eventful  these  four  years  ! 

JAUNCEY,  WILLIAM.  Of  New  York.  He  was  arrested 
and  sent  prisoner  to  Middletown,  Connecticut,  but  was  re 
leased  on  parole. 

JEFFRIES,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Proscribed  and  banished. 
He  was  born  at  Boston  in  174-1,  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
University  in  1768  ;  and  having  pursued  his  medical  studies 
with  Doctor  Lloyd,  of  that  town,  and  attended  the  medical 
schools  of  England,  commenced  practice.  From  1771  to  1774 
he  was  surgeon  of  a  British  ship-of-the-line,  in  Boston  harbor. 
After  the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,  he  assisted  in  dressing  the 
wounded  of  the  Royal  Army,  and,  it  is  said,  identified  the 
body  of  Warren,  in  the  presence  of  Sir  William  Howe. 
At  the  evacuation  he  embarked  with  the  troops  and  went 
to  Halifax,  and  was  appointed  chief  of  the  surgical  staff  of 
Nova  Scotia.  In  1770  he  went  to  England  :  and,  returning 
to  America,  held  a  high  professional  employment  to  the 
British  forces  at  Charleston  and  New  York.  In  1780  he 
resigned  ;  and  going  to  England  again,  commenced  practice 
in  London.  In  1785  he  crossed  the  British  Channel  in  a 
balloon.  He  returned  to  Boston  in  the  ship  Lucrctict,  in 
1700.  He  was  eminent  as  a  surgeon,  midwife,  and  phy 
sician.  He  attended  the  poor  as  cheerfully  and  as  faithfully 
as  the  rich,  and  was  never  known  to  refuse  a  professional 
call.  He  died  in  his  native  town  in  1810,  aged  seventy-five. 

JEFFREY,  PATRICK.  Of  Boston.  Went  to  England. 
Mary,  his  wife,  died  in  Bath,  England,  in  1808.  He  re 
turned  to  Massachusetts,  and  died  at  Milton  in  1812.  His 
house  and  lot  on  Tremont  Street,  sold,  in  1808,  for  $11,000. 

JENKINS,  EDWARD.  Of  Georgia.  Episcopal  minister. 
In  the  effort  to  reestablish  the  Royal  Government  in  1770, 
he  was  appointed  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Savannah. 

JENKINS,  JOHN.  Of  South  Carolina.  An  Episcopal 
minister.  In  1782  he  was  Chaplain  of  the  South  Carolina 


574  JENKINSON.  —  JOHNSON. 

Royalists,  and  was  banished.  Ten  years  afterward,  he  was 
preaching  in  Charleston,  but  without  a  regular  parish. 

JENKINSON,  DANIEL.  Died  at  Kingston,  New  Brunswick, 
in  1827,  aged  seventy-three. 

JENNINGS,  JOHN.  Of  Sandwich,  Massachusetts.  In  1778 
arrested  and  imprisoned  for  his  disaffection  to  the  popular 
cause.  A  Loyalist  of  this  name  died  at  Grand  Lake,  New 
Brunswick,  in  1839,  at  the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and 
three  years. 

JENNINGS,  WILLIAM.  Of  South  Carolina.  An  Addresser 
of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  ;  banished,  and  estate  confiscated. 

JENNINGS,  EZEKIEL.  Of  Fairfield,  Connecticut.  Fled  to 
Lono;  Island  in  1776.  The  fact  was  communicated  to  Wash- 

*T5 

inoton. 

O 

JENNINGS,  THOMAS.  Went  to  St  John,  New  Brunswick, 
at  the  peace,  and  was  grantee  of  a  city  lot.  He  died  there 
in  the  year  1805. 

JEROME,  CHAUNCEY.  Of  Bristol,  Connecticut.  He  mar 
ried  the  widow  of  Moses  Dunbar,  who  was  executed  in  1777, 
and  went  with  her  to  Nova  Scotia.  At  the  peace  he  re 
turned,  and  passed  the  rest  of  his  days  in  Bristol.  Fie  was 
the  father  of  several  children. 

JOHNSON,  SIR  WILLIAM,  Baronet.  A  Major-General  of 
the  militia  of  New  York,  Superintendent-General  of  Indian 
Affairs,  &c.  Was  born  in  Ireland,  about  the  year  1714. 
His  uncle,  Sir  Peter  Warren,  a  naval  officer  of  distinguished 
merit,  married  a  lady  of  New  York,  and  purchased  a  con 
siderable  tract  of  country  in  the  interior  of  that  Colony,  and 
induced  him  to  come  to  America  to  take  charge  of  his  affairs, 
when  at  about  the  age  of  twenty.  Johnson  established  his 
residence  on  the  Mohawk,  and  applying  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  Indian  character  and  language,  soon  acquired  an  ascen 
dency  over  the  native  tribes,  that  has  never,  probably,  been 
surpassed.  His  rise  in  affairs  was  rapid.  In  1755  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  Colonial  forces  of  New  York,  des 
tined  to  operate  against  the  French,  and  for  his  services  was 
created  a  Baronet,  and  received  a  grant  of  £5000  in  money. 


JOHNSON.  575 

But  his  right  to  rewards  so  munificent  has  been  severely,  and 
perhaps  not  improperly,  disputed,  since  his  success  at  the  battle 
of  Lake  George — which  was  his  principal  claim  to  the  Royal 
regard  —  was  mainly  due  to  the  exertions  and  good  conduct 
of  the  brave  General  Lyman,  of  Connecticut,  after  he  was 
wounded.  In  1759,  and  in  1760,  Sir  William's  military 
operations  were  highly  beneficial  to  the  Crown,  and  he  retired 
at  the  close  of  the  French  war,  in  much  favor.  He  had  been 
able  to  organize  an  Indian  force  of  one  thousand  men,  —  a 
greater  number  than  had  ever  before  been  seen  in  arms  at  one 
time  in  the  cause  of  England.  Sir  William  possessed  talents 
as  an  orator,  and  deeply  impressed  the  Indians  with  his  pow 
ers  ;  and  his  shrewdness  in  treating  and  dealing  with  them  is 
said  to  have  been  remarkable.  Allen  relates,  that  on  his  re 
ceiving  from  England  some  finely  laced  clothes,  the  Moha\vk 
chief,  Hendrick,  became  possessed  with  the  desire  of  equal 
ling  the  Baronet  in  the  splendor  of  his  apparel,  and  with  a 
demure  face  pretended  to  have  dreamed  that  Sir  William  had 
presented  him  with  a  suit  of  the  decorated  garments.  As  the 
solemn  hint  could  not  be  mistaken  or  avoided,  the  Indian 
monarch  was  gratified,  and  went  away  highly  pleased  with 
the  success  of  his  device.  But,  alas  for  Hendrick's  short 
sighted  sagacity,  in  a  few  days  Sir  William,  in  turn,  had  a 
dream,  to  the  effect  that  the  Chief  had  given  him  several 
thousand  acres  of  land.  "  The  land  is  yours,"  said  Hendrick, 
u  but  now,  Sir  William,  I  never  dream  with  you  again  ;  you 
dream  too  hard  for  me." 

The  Baronet's  seat  was  Johnson  Hall,  Johnstown,  Tryon 
County,  New  York,  about  twenty-four  miles  from  Schenec- 
tady,  on  the  Mohawk  River.  He  died  there  suddenly,  July 
11,  1774,  aged  sixty  years.  Owing  to  his  influence,  and  that 
of  his  family  and  connections,  there  were  more  Loyalists, 
probably,  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  the  population  con 
sidered,  than  in  any  other  section  of  the  northern  Colonies. 

As  the  Revolutionary  troubles  progressed,  the  unhappiness 
of  Sir  William  is  represented  to  have  been  very  great.  And 
it  is  said,  that  no  inconsiderable  part  of  his  sorrow  arose  from 
the  contest  within  his  own  bosom,  between  his  love  of  liberty 


576  JOHNSON. 

and  sympathy  with  the  oppressions  of  the  people,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  duty  which  he  owed  the  Sovereign  whom  he 
had  lono-  served,  and  whose  rewards  had  been  princely,  on  the 
other.  It  has  been  asserted,  even,  that  his  distress  of  mind 
became  insupportable,  and  that  he  died  by  his  own  hand. 
The  tradition  is,  that  on  'the  day  of  his  decease  he  received 
despatches  which  showed  that  civil  war  was  inevitable  and 
near  ;  while  another  version  is,  that  these  despatches  required 
of  him  the  use  of  his  influence  with  the  Indian  tribes  to  secure 
their  services  to  the  Crown  in  the  event  of  blows.  That  the 
employments  and  news  of  the  last  day  of  his  life  deeply 
excited  him,  there  is  sufficient  proof ;  but,  as  his  system  was 
predisposed  to  apoplexy,  and  as  he  was  seized  with  a  fit  and 
lingered  some  hours,  it  is  very  uncertain  whether  he  committed 
suicide.  Some  weight,  however,  appears  to  have  been  given 
to  his  declaration  in  the  spring  of  1774,  and  soon  after  his  re 
turn  from  England,  in  substance,  that  he  "  should  never  live 
to  see  the  Colonies  and  the  mother  country  in  a  state  of  open 
war."  That  this  declaration  was  made  with  a  view  to  self- 
destruction,  is  possible ;  yet  a  man,  who  had  so  much  at  stake, 
was  far  more  likely  to  have  spoken  it  as  expressive  of  his 
strong  hope  of  the  final  accommodation  of  the  difficulties 
which  existed. 

Sir  William  was  uncommonly  tall  and  well  made.  His 
countenance  was  fine,  but  melancholy ;  and  he  possessed  a 
remarkable  command  of  it,  under  the  most  exciting  circum 
stances.  Johnson  Hall  is  still  (1842)  standing,  and  is  occu 
pied  by  Mr.  Wells.  In  Sir  William's  time  it  was  surrounded 
by  a  stone  breastwork.  The  hall  itself  is  of  wood,  but  the 
wings  are  of  stone.  The  two  daughters  of  Sir  William  John 
son  were  educated  almost  in  solitude,  and  in  the  following 
singular  manner  :  Their  mother  died  when  they  were  young, 
and  bequeathed  them  to  the  care  of  a  friend,  who  was  the 
widow  of  an  officer  killed  in  battle.  She  retired  from  the 
world,  and  devoted  herself  to  her  fair  pupils  ;  to  whom  she 
taught  the  nicest  and  most  ingenious  kinds  of  needlework, 
and  reading  and  writing.  In  the  morning,  the  two  girls  rose 
early,  read  their  Bible,  fed  their  birds,  tended  their  flowers, 


JOHNSON.  577 

and  breakfasted.  Later  in  the  day,  they  employed  themselves 
with  their  needles,  and  in  reading.  After  dinner,  in  summer, 
they  regularly  took  a  long  walk,  and  in  the  winter  they  rode 
a  distance  upon  a  sledge.  Thus  uniformly  passed  their  lives, 
year  after  year  ;  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  they  had  read  no 
books  except  the  Scriptures,  their  prayer-book,  some  romances, 
and  "  Rollings  Ancient  History  "  ;  nor  had  they  ever  seen  a 
lady,  except  their  mother  and  her  friend.  Their  dress  was 
quite  as  uniform  as  their  habits  of  life.  And  though  they  con 
tinually  made  articles  of  ornament,  according  to  the  fashion  of 
the  day,  they  wore  none  of  them,  but  summer  and  winter,  and 
without  the  least  change,  appeared  in  wrappers  of  the  finest 
chintz,  and  green  silk  petticoats.  Their  hair,  which  was  long 
and  beautiful,  they  tied  behind  with  a  simple  ribbon.  In  sum 
mer,  they  covered  their  heads  with  a  large  calash  ;  in  winter, 
long  scarlet  mantles  completely  enveloped  their  persons.  Sir 
William  did  not  live  with  them,  but  visited  their  apartment 
daily.  One  married  Colonel  Guy  Johnson,  the  other  Colonel 
Daniel  Glaus.  Their  manners  soon  became  polished,  they 
soon  acquired  the  habits  of  society,  and  made  excellent  wives. 

JOHXSON,  SIR  JOHN.  Of  New  York.  Knight  and  Bar 
onet,  was  the  son  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  to  whose  estates 
and  title  he  succeeded,  and  to  whose  office  of  Major-General 
in  the  militia  of  New  York  he  was  appointed  in  November  of 
1774.  The  father,  Ave  have  seen,  was  removed  from  the  dif 
ficulties  which  attended  an  elevated  position  in  society  at  the 
Revolutionary  era,  before  the  commencement  of  hostilities  ; 
and  a  brief  notice  of  the  career  of  the  son  will  show  that 
these  difficulties  were  neither  few  nor  easily  surmounted. 
The  office  of  General  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  on  the 
death  of  Sir  William,  passed  into  the  hands  of  Colonel  Guy 
Johnson,  (who  married  a  daughter  of  Sir  William  Johnson,) 
but  in  other  respects  the  new  Baronet  was  the  heir,  not  only 
of  his  parent's  fortune  and  honors,  but  of  his  cares,  per 
plexities  and  perils.  Of  the  early  life  of  Sir  John,  not  much 
appears  to  be  known  ;  he,  however,  served  under  his  father, 
and  acquired  considerable  military  experience.  He  was  not 

VOL.  i.  49 


578  JOHNSON. 

as  popular  as  Sir  William,  being  less  social  and  less  acquainted 
with  human  nature ;  and  failed  to  secure  in  so  preeminent  a 
decree  the  affections  of  the  retainers  of  Johnson  Hall,  and 

O 

of  the  Indian  tribes.  Yet  he  took  means  to  secure  the  favor 
of  the  latter. 

His  official  relations  and  supposed  political  sympathies 
caused  a  strict  watch-  to  be  kept  upon  his  movements,  and 
early  in  1776  a  Whig  force  of  some  hundreds,  under  command 
of  General  Schuyler,  was  despatched  to  Tryon  County,  to 
counteract  his  reported  designs,  to  disarm  the  Loyalists  said  to 
be  embodied  there,  and  to  obtain  satisfactory  assurances  for 
the  future  o-ood  conduct  of  the  Baronet  and  his  friends  and 

O 

dependents.  The  General  executed  these  delicate  and  re 
sponsible  duties  in  a  manner  highly  satisfactory  to  Congress, 
and  received  a  vote  of  thanks.  Reluctant  to  proceed  to  ex 
tremities,  he  opened  a  correspondence  with  Sir  John,  and  pro 
posed  an  arrangement  by  which  the  shedding  of  blood  would 
be  spared  and  the  objects  of  his  mission  be  accomplished. 
After  some  modification  of  the  original  terms,  an  accommoda 
tion  was  effected,  by  which  Sir  John  stipulated  to  a  pacific- 
line  of  conduct,  and  to  remain  within  certain  prescribed  limits, 
on  his  parole  of  honor.  For  some  unexplained  reason,  this 
agreement  was  soon  violated,  and  the  Whigs  attempted  to 
secure  the  Baronet's  person.  Sir  John,  learning  of  this  in 
tention,  hastily  secured  his  most  valuable  effects,  and  fled  to 
the  woods,  with  about  seven  hundred  followers,  determined  to 
proceed  to  Canada.  After  enduring  almost  every  imaginable 
hardship  and  deprivation,  he  and  the  principal  part  of  his 
associates  arrived  at  Montreal. 

He  was  soon  commissioned  a  Colonel,  and  raised  two  bat 
talions  of  Loyalists,  who  bore  the  designation  of  the  Royal 
Greens.  From  the  time  of  organizing  this  corps,  he  became 
one  of  the  most  active,  and  one  of  the  bitterest  foes  that  the 
Whigs  encountered  during  the  contest  ;  so  true  is  it,  as  was 
said  by  the  wise  man  of  Israel,  that  "  A  brother  offended 
is  harder  to  be  won  than  a  strong  city  ;  and  their  contentions 
are  like  the  bars  of  a  castle."  Sir  John  was  in  several 


JOHNSON. 

regular  and  fairly  conducted  battles.     He  invested  Fort  Stan- 
\vix  in  1777,  and  defeated  the  brave  General  Herkimer,  and 
in  1780  was  defeated  himself  by  General  Van  Rensselaer,  at 
Fox's   Mills.     In    predatory   enterprises,    the    Royal    Greens 
enjoy  an    infamous   celebrity.      They  committed   quite   every 
enormity    known    in    savage    warfare.       Their    own    former 
neighbors  and  friends  on  the  Mohawk  were  objects  of  their 
sweetest  revenge,  and  suffered  even  more  at  their  hands  than 
strangers  ;  and  the  chieftain  Brant,  though  he  be  compelled 
to  bear  the  worst,  and  all  of  the  charges  which  have  been 
made  against  him  and  his  warriors,  will  not  answer  to  pos 
terity  for   any  darker   or   more    damning    deeds    than    those 
which   the    Royal    Greens  perpetrated.     Upon  one  occasion, 
their  Colonel  was  thus  addressed  by  Mr.  Sammons,  an  aged 
and  respectable  Whig  :  "  See  what  you  have  done,  Sir  John. 
You  have  taken    myself  and  my    sons   prisoners,    burnt  my 
dwelling  to  ashes,  and  left  the  helpless  members  of  my  family 
with  no  covering  bat  the  heavens  above,  and  no  prospect  but 
desolation  around  them.     Did  we  treat  you  in  this  manner 
when   you  were   in   the   power   of  the    Tryon    County  Com 
mittee  ?     Do    you    remember   when    we   were   consulted    by 
General  Schuyler,  and  you  agreed  to  surrender  your  arms  ? 
Do  you  not  remember  that  you  then  agreed  to  remain  neu 
tral,  and  that  upon  that  condition  General   Schuyler  left  you 
at  liberty  on  your  parole  ?     These  conditions  you  violated. 
You  went  off  to  Canada  ;  enrolled  yourself  in  the  service  of 
the   King  ;  raised  a   regiment   of  the  disaffected,   who  aban 
doned  their  country  with  you  ;   and  you  have  now  returned 
to  wage  a  cruel  war  against  us,  by  burning  our  dwellings,  and 
robbing  us  of  our  property.     I  was  your  friend  in  the  Com 
mittee  of  Safety,"  continued  the   bold  Whig,  "  and  exerted 
myself  to  save  your  person    from   injury.      And    how  am    I 
requited  ?     Your  Indians  have  murdered  and  scalped  old  Mr. 
Fonda,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years  ;  a  man  who,  I  have  heard 
your  father  say,  was  like  a  father   to  him  when  he  settled 
in  Johnstown  and  Kingsborough.     You  cannot  be  successful, 
Sir  John,  in  such  a  warfare,  and  you  will  never  enjoy  your 
property  more." 


r>80  JOHNSON. 

In  the  flight  of  the  Baronet  from  the  Hall,  in  1776,  Lady 
Johnson  and  the  family  papers,  plate,  and  Bible,  were  left 
behind.  An  incident  with  regard  to  each  will  show  the 
state  and  necessities  of  the  times.  Her  Ladyship  —  who 
was  Mary  Watts,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  daughter  of 
Honorable  John  "Watts,  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the 
Colony,  and  sister  of  the  late  venerable  John  Watts,  who 
died  in  September,  1836  —  was  removed  to  Albany,  where 
it  was  designed  by  the  local  Whig  authorities  that  she 
should  be  detained  as  a  kind  of  hostage  for  the  good  conduct 
of  her  husband.  She  solicited  the  Commander-in-Chief  to 
release  her,  but  Washington  declined  to  interfere.  Lady 
Johnson  possessed  much  beauty,  understanding,  and  vivacity. 
Her  playful  humor  exhilarated  the  whole  household,  The 
papers  were  buried  in  an  iron  chest,  and  in  1778  General 
Haldimand,  at  the  request  of  Sir  John,  sent  a  party  of  men 
to  carry  them  away.  On  taking  them  up,  they  were  found 
to  be  mouldy,  rotten,  and  illegible,  in  consequence  of  the 
dampness  which  had  been  admitted  through  the  open  joints 
of  the  chest.  To  recover  the  silver,  the  Baronet,  in  1780, 
went  to  Johnstown  himself.  It  was  found  where  a  faithful 
slave  had  buried  it,  and  was  transferred  to  the  knapsacks  of 
about  forty  soldiers,  who  took  it  to  Montreal.  The  devotion 
of  the  slave  is  worthy  of  remembrance.  He  had  long  lived 
with  Sir  John's  father,  who  was  so  much  attached  to  him 
that  he  caused  him  to  be  baptized  by  his  own  name  of  Wil 
liam.  When  the  estate  was  confiscated  by  the  Provincial 
Congress  of  New  York,  William  formed  a  part  of  it,  and 
was  sold,  but  finally,  by  a  repurchase  or  otherwise,  returned 
to  the  Baronet's  family.  While  he  remained  with  his  pur 
chaser,  who  was  a  Whig,  he  never  gave  the  least  hint  as  to 
the  valuables  of  Sir  John,  though  he  had  secreted  them  all. 
The  family  Bible  was  sold  with  the  furniture,  by  auction,  at 
Fort  Hunter.  John  Taylor,  late  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
New  York,  was  the  purchaser  of  the  sacred  volume,  and  on 
discovering  that  it  contained  the  family  record,  he  wrote  a 
civil  note  to  Sir  John  offering  to  restore  it.  Some  time 


JOHNSON.  581 

afterward,  a  messenger  from  the  Baronet  called  for  the  Bible, 
but  did  his  errand  in  a  manner  rude  and  offensive.  fct  1  have 
come,"  said  he,  "  for  Sir  William's  Bible,  and  there  are  the 
four  guineas  which  it  cost."  On  being  asked  what  word  Sir 
John  had  sent,  lie  replied,  "  to  pay  four  guineas,  and  take 
the  book." 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  contest,  Sir  John  went  to  Eng 
land,  but  returned,  in  1785,  and  established  his  residence  in 
Canada.  He  was  appointed  Superintendent-General  and  In 
spector-General  of  Indian  Affairs  in  British  North  America, 
and  for  several  years  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Legislative 

i/  £!? 

Council  of  Canada.  To  compensate  him  for  his  losses,  the 
British  Government  made  him  several  grants  of  lands. 

It  is  thought  that  he  was  a  conscientious  Loyalist ;  and  this 
may  be  allowed.  He  lived  in  a  style  of  luxury  and  splendor, 
which  few  country  gentlemen  in  America  possessed  the  means 
to  support.  His  domains  were  as  large  and  as  lair  as  those  of 
any  Colonist  of  his  time,  the  estate  of  Lord  Fairfax  only  ex- 
cepted  ;  and  no  American  hazarded  more,  probably,  in  the 
cause  of  the  Crown.  Faithfulness  to  duty  is  never  a  crime  ; 
and  if  he  sacrificed  his  home,  his  fortune,  and  his  country, 
for  his  principles,  he  deserves  admiration.  But  all  approba 
tion  of  his  course  during  the  Revolutionary  struggle  must  end 
here.  The  conduct  of  the  Whigs  towards  him  may  have 
been  harsh,  and,  in  the  beginning,  too  harsh  for  his  offences. 
There  may  be  room  to  doubt,  whether,  prior  to  the  arrange 
ment  with  General  Schuyler,  he  did  more  than  any  zealous 
loyal  gentleman  would  consider  he  was  bound  to  do,  to  put 
down  the  disloyal  proceedings  in  his  neighborhood,  and  at  his 
very  door.  The  charges  found  against  him  in  the  documents 
of  the  day,  may,  in  some  particulars,  be  false,  or  highly  col 
ored.  But  there  still  remains  unanswered  the  very  grave 
question,  whether,  as  a  civilized  man,  he  was  not  bound  to 
observe  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare. 

Sir  John  died  at  Montreal,  in  1830,  aged  eighty-eight,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  oldest  surviving  son,  Sir  Adam  Gordon 
Johnson.  Lady  Johnson,  who,  as  already  said,  was  Mary, 
49* 


582  JOHNSON. 

daughter  of  John  Watts,  of  New  York,  died  in  1815.  By 
one  account,  the  issue  of  this  marriage  was  ten  sons  and  four 
daughters.  But  the  following  notice  of  his  children  is  be 
lieved  to  be  accurate  :  William,  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the 
British  Army,  married  Susan,  daughter  of  Governor  Stephen 
I)e  Lancey,  and  died  in  1811,  —  his  widow  became  the  wife 
of  Sir  Hudson  Lowe,  Napoleon's  keeper  at  St.  Helena ;  War 
ren,  Major  of  the  (50th  Foot,  died  in  1802;  Adam  Gordon, 
bom  in  1781,  succeeded  to  the  Baronetcy,  as  above ;  John, 
born  in  1782  ;  James  Stephen,  killed  at  Barbadoes  ;  Robert 
Thomas,  Captain  in  the  Army,  drowned  in  Canada,  in  1811; 
Charles  Christopher,  a  Field  Officer  in  the  Army  ;  Archibald 
Kennedy,  born  in  1792  ;  Anne,  married  Colonel  Edward 
McDonnell,  Quartermaster-General  to  the  Forces  in  Canada, 
survived  her  husband,  and  died  near  London  in  1848  ;  Cath 
arine  Maria,  married  Major-General  Bowes,  who  fell  at 
Salamanca  in  1812,  who  herself  died  at  Anglesey,  near  Gos- 
port,  in  1850;  and  last,  Marianna.  "The  title  is  now  (1862) 
held  by  Sir  William  Johnson,  of  Twickenham,  near  London, 
an  officer  in  the  Royal  Artillery  of  England.  He  was  born 
in  1830,  and  succeeded,  as  fourth  Baronet,  on  the  demise  of 
his  uncle,  Sir  Adam  Gordon,  in  1843." 

JOHNSON,  GUY.  Of  New  York.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Sir  William  Johnson,  and  at  the  death  of  the  Baronet 
succeeded  him  as  Superintendent  of  the  Indian  Department. 
He  was  well  versed  in  the  business  of  that  office,  having  long 
held  the  place  of  deputy  under  his  father-in-law.  His  own 
assistant  or  deputy  was  Colonel  Daniel  Glaus,  who  also  mar 
ried  a  daughter  of  Sir  William.  His  residence  was  in  Try  on 
County,  near  the  Baronial  Hall.  Colonel  Johnson's  intem 
perate  zeal  for  his  Royal  master  caused  the  first  affray  in  that 
county.  In  the  early  part  of  1775,  about  three  hundred 
Whigs  assembled  at  the  house  of  John  Veeder,  in  Caughna- 
waga,  for  the  purpose  of  deliberating  upon  the  public  concerns, 
and  the  setting  up  of  a  Liberty-pole.  Their  proceedings 
were  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  Sir  John  Johnson,  Colonel 
Glaus,  Colonel  John  Butler,  and  Colonel  Johnson,  with  a 


JOHNSON.  583 

large  number  of  their  retainers,  well  armed.  Colonel  Johnson 
mounted  a  high  stoop  and  addressed  the  people.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks,  he  became  so  abusive  that  Jacob  Sam- 
mons  interrupted  him,  and  pronounced  him  a  liar  and  a  vil 
lain.  Johnson  thereupon  seized  Sammons  by  the  throat,  and 

called  him  a  d d  villain  in  return.     A  scuhHe  ensued,  in 

which  Sammons  was  severely  injured.  The  Whigs  present, 
the  members  of  three  families  excepted,  fled,  and  left  Sam 
mons  to  fight  with  the  enraged  Loyalists  as  he  best  could. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  correspondence  in  1775,  will 
throw  light  on  the  proceedings  of  the  time,  and  on  the  course 
of  the  subject  of  this  notice.  I  have  received  u  repeated  ac 
counts,''  he  said,  "  that  either  the  New  Englanders,  or  some 
persons  in  or  about  the  city  of  Albany,  or  town  of  Schenec- 
tady,  are  coming  up,  to  a  considerable  number,  to  seize  and 
imprison  me,  on  a  ridiculous  and  malicious  report  that  I  in 
tend  to  make  the  Indians  destroy  the  inhabitants,  or  to  that 
effect.  The  absurdity  of  this  apprehension  may  easily  be 
seen  by  men  of  sense  ;  but  as  many  credulous  and  ignorant 
persons  may  be  led  astray  and  inclined  to  believe  it,  and  as 
they  have  already  sent  down  accounts,  examinations,  &c., 
from  busy  people  here,  that  I  can  fully  prove  to  be  totally 
devoid  of  all  foundation,  it  is  become  the  duty  of  all  those 
who  have  authority  or  influence  to  disabuse  the  public,  and 
prevent  consequences  which  I  foresee  with  very  great  con 
cern,  and  most  cordially  wish  may  be  timely  prevented.  Any 
differences  in  political  ideas  can  never  justify  such  extrav- 
a^ant  opinions  ;  and  I  little  imagined  that  they  should  have 

£r>  l  ^>  J 

gained  belief  amongst  any  order  of  people  who  know  my 
character,  station,  and  the  large  property  I  have  in  the 
country,  and  the  duties  of  my  office,  which  are  to  preserve 
tranquillity  amongst  the  Indians,  hear  their  grievances,  &c., 
and  prevent  them  from  falling  upon  the  trade  and  frontiers. 
In  the  discharge  of  this  duty  I  likewise  essentially 
serve  the  public.  But  should  I  neglect  myself,  and  be  tamely 
made  prisoner,  it  is  clear  to  all  who  know  anything  of  In 
dians,  they  will  not  sit  still  and  see  their  Council  fire  ex- 


584  JOHNSON. 

tinguished,  and  Superintendent  driven  from  liis  duty,  but  will 
come  upon  the  frontiers,  in  revenge,  with  a  power  sufficient 
to  commit  horrid  devastation.  It  is  therefore  become  as  neces 
sary  to  the  public,  as  to  myself,  that  my  person  should  be 
defended.  But  as  the  measures  I  am  necessitated  to  make  for 
that  purpose  may  occasion  the  propagation  of  additional  false 
hoods,  and  may  at  last  appear  to  the  Indians  in  a  light  that  is 
not  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  I  should  heartily  wish,  gen 
tlemen,  that  you  could  take  such  measures  for  removing  these 
apprehensions,  as  may  enable  me  to  discharge  my  duties 
(which  do  not  interfere  with  the  public)  without  the  protec 
tion  of  armed  men  and  the  apprehension  of  insult.  And  as 
the  public  are  much  interested  in  this,  I  must  beg  to  have 
vour  answer  as  soon  as  possible." 

A  wain  in  May,  1775,  Colonel  Johnson  said,  in  a  commu 
nication  to  the  Whig  Committee  of  Schenectady,  that  lie 
had  "  taken  precaution  to  give  a  very  hot  and  disagreeable 
reception  to  any  persons  that  shall  attempt  to  invade  his 
retreat";  yet  that,  "at  the  same  time,  he  had  no  intention 
to  disturb  those  who  chose  to  permit  him  the  honest  exercise 
of  his  reason  and  the  duties  of  his  office."  Meantime,  the 
Tryon  County  Committee  and  the  Colonel  became  involved 
in  difficulty,  and  the  former,  in  denouncing  his  proceedings, 
used  the  following  among  other  equally  severe  expressions  : 
"  Colonel  Johnson's  conduct  in  raising  fortifications  round 
his  house,  keeping  a  number  of  Indians  and  armed  men  con 
stantly  about  him,  and  stopping  and  searching  travellers  upon 
the  King's  highway,  and  stopping  our  communication  with 
Albany,  is  very  alarming  to  this  county,  and  is  highly  ar 
bitrary,  illegal,  oppressive,  and  unwarrantable  ;  and  confirms 
us  in  our  fears,  that  his  design  is  to  keep  us  in  a\ve,  and 
oblige  us  to  submit  to  a  state  of  slavery "  ;  and  abhorring 
that  state,  they  resolved  "  to  defend  their  freedom  with  their 
lives  and  fortunes."  On  the  2cl  of  June,  1775,  the  Com 
mittee  of  Tryon  County,  in  a  long  letter,  begged  him  to 
use  his  "  endeavors  to  dissuade  the  Indians  from  interfering 
in  the  dispute  with  the  Mother  Country  and  the  Colonies." 


JOHNSON.  585 

"  \Ve  cannot  think,"  they  continue,  u  that,  as  yon  and  your 
family  possess  very  large  estates  in  tins  county,  you  are  un 
favorable  to  American  freedom,  although  you  mav  differ 
with  us  in  the  mode  of  obtaining  redress."  His  course  was 
watched  with  much  anxiety.  It  was  well  known  that  the 
Johnsons  could  induce  the  Six  Nations  to  remain  neutral, 
or  to  take  part  with  the  Crown,  at  their  pleasure.  The  Rev. 
Doctor  Wheelock  wrote  to  the  New  Hampshire  Provincial 
Congress,  from  Dartmouth  College,  June  28th,  that  he  had 
"  seen  a  man  direct  from  Albany,  and  late  from  Mount 
Johnson,"  who  informed  him  that  Colonel  Johnson  had  "  re 
ceived  presents  to  the  amount  of  three  thousand  pounds  from 
the  King,  to  be  disposed  of  to  engage  the  Indians  within 
his  jurisdiction  against  the  Colonies  ;  and  that  all  his  endeav 
ors  for  that  purpose  had  been  fruitless.  Not  one  of  the 
Indians  would  receive  the  presents." 

We  next  find  the  subject  of  this  notice  in  collision  with 
the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York.  In  his  reply  to  a 
letter  from  that  body,  dated  July  8th,  he  says  :  —  "As  to 
the  endeavors  you  speak  of,  to  reconcile  the  unhappy  differ 
ences  between  the  Parent  State  and  these  Colonies,  be  as 
sured  I  ardently  wish  to  see  them.  As  yet,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  any  attempt  of  that 
kind,  but  that  of  the  Assembly's,  the  only  true  legal  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people  ;  and  as  to  the  individuals  who  you 
say  officiously  interrupt,  in  my  quarter,  the  mode  and  meas 
ures  you  think  necessary  for  these  salutary  purposes,  I  am 
really  a  stranger  to  them.  If  you  mean  myself,  you  miist 
have  been  grossly  imposed  on.  I  once,  indeed,  went  with 
reluctance,  at  the  request  of  several  of  the  principal  inhab 
itants,  to  one  of  the  people's  meetings,  which  I  found  had 
been  called  by  an  itinerant  New  England  leather-dresser,  and 
conducted  by  others,  if  possible,  more  contemptible.  I  had, 
therefore,  little  inclination  to  revisit  such  men,  or  attend  to 
their  absurdities."  In  conclusion,  and  in  allusion  to  the 
fears  that  his  influence  would  be  used  to  excite  the  Indians 
to  hostilities,  he  remarks  :  "  I  trust  I  shall  always  manifest 


586  JOHNSON. 

more  humanity  than  to  promote  the  destruction  of  the  in 
nocent  inhabitants  of  a  Colony  to  which  I  have  been  always 
warmly  attached,  —  a  declaration  that  must  appear  perfectly 
suitable  to  the  character  of  a  man  of  honor  and  principle, 
who  can  on  no  account  neglect  those  duties  that  are  con 
sistent  therewith,  however  they  may  differ  from  sentiments 
now  adopted  in  so  many  parts  of  America/' 

Notwithstanding  the  many  and  the  explicit  assurances  of 
Colonel  Johnson,  Brant,  the  acknowledged  chief  of  the  Six 
Nations,  joined  the  royal  standard  ;  and  whatever  were  the 
Colonel's  own  purposes  and  intentions,  the  force  of  circum 
stances  or  his  own  inclination  induced  him  to  retire  to  Can 
ada,  and  thence  to  repair  to  scenes  of  savage  warfare  ;  and 
his  name  appears  in  the  bloody  exploits  of  the  Mohawk 
chieftain,  and  the  miscreant  Butler.  That,  at  the  time  he 
was  in  communication  with  the  Committees  of  Albany, 
Schenectady,  and  Tryon  County,  and  with  the  Provincial 
Congress  of  New  York,  he  was  also  in  communication  with 
Brant,  seems  certain.  The  chief,  who  signed  himself  u  sec 
retary  to  Guy  Johnson,"  wrote  the  Oneidas,  in  the  Mohawk 
tongue,  thus  :  "  Written  at  Guy  Johnson's,  May,  1775. 
This  is  your  letter,  you  great  ones  or  sachems.  Guy  John 
son  says  he  will  be  glad  if  you  get  this  intelligence,  you 
Oneidas,  how  it  goes  with  him  now,  and  he  is  now  more 
certain  of  the  intention  of  the  Boston  people.  Guy  John 
son  is  in  great  fear  of  being  taken  prisoner  by  the  Bosto- 
nians.  We  Mohawks  are  obliged  to  watch  him  constantly," 
&c.  This  letter  was  found  in  an  Indian  path,  and  was  lost, 
as  was  supposed,  by  the  person  to  whom  it  had  been  en 
trusted.  It  is  certain,  too,  that  Johnson,  Brant,  and  the 
Butlers,  —  father  and  son,  —  fled  to  Canada  together.  Col 
onel  Johnson,  in  1780,  was  about  forty  years  of  age  ;  and  is 
described  "  as  being  a  short,  pursy  man,  of  stern  counte 
nance  and  haughty  demeanor,  —  dressed  in  a  British  uniform, 
powdered  locks,  and  a  cocked  hat."  His  mansion  —  Guy 
Park  —  is  still  (1840)  standing.  It  is  of  stone,  and  situ 
ated  about  a  mile  from  the  village  of  Amsterdam,  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Mohawk.  His  estate  was  confiscated. 


JOHNSON.  587 

He  went  to  England  at  the  peace  ;  was  a  petitioner  for 
relief  in  1784,  and  died  there  in  1788.  His  daughter  Mary 
was  the  wife  of  Lieut. -General  Colin  Campbell,  and  mother 
of  Major-General  Sir  Guy  Campbell,  Baronet,  and  C.  B. 

JOHNSON,  AUGUSTUS.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Vice-Admiralty  for  the  Southern  District  of  North 
America.  He  was  born  in  Amboy,  New  Jersey,  about  the 
year  1730.  He  went  to  Rhode  Island  very  young,  and 
studied  law  with  Matthew  Robinson,  who  married  his  mother. 
"  He  had  an  unlimited  confidence  in  his  own  ability,  and 
would  acknowledge  no  superior."  In  1757  he  was  appointed 
Attorney-General,  and  held  the  office  nine  years.  One  of 
the  three  Stamp-Masters,  in  17<J5,  he  was  constantly  hissed 
and  insulted  in  the  streets,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year, 
his  house  was  surrounded  by  an  infuriated  multitude.  Still 
later,  he  was  seized,  treated  with  indignity,  and  a  promise 
exacted  that  he  would  resign.  When  the  news  of  the  repeal 
of  the  Stamp  Act  was  received  at  Newport,  a  gallows  was 
erected  near  the  State  House,  and  the  effigies  of  Mr.  Johnson 
and  his  associates  were  conveyed  through  the  streets  in  a 
cart,  with  halters  about  their  necks,  and  hanged  and  burned, 
amid  shouts  and  tumult.  Such  was  the  hostile  feeling,  that 
he  fled  to  an  armed  ship  in  the  harbor.  At  the  evacuation 
of  Rhode  Island,  in  1770,  he  went  to  New  York  with  the 
Royal  Army.  His  property  was  confiscated.  He  was  a 
pensioner  of  the  British  Government.  His  son,  Matthew 
Robinson  Johnson,  was  a  major  in  the  army,  but  disposed 
of  his  commission,  and  returned  to  his  native  State,  in  the 
year  1800,  where  he  died,  leaving  a  widow,  who  was  alive  in 
1842. 

JOHNSON,  RKV.  THOMAS.  Of  Virginia.  Episcopal  min 
ister.  Denounced  by  the  Charlotte  County  Committee,  as 
an  enemy  to  his  country.  Among  the  charges  against  him 
was,  that  at  the  "  Ordinary  of  Mr.  John  Tankersly,  with  a 
bowl  of  grog  in  his  hand,  he  drank  success  to  the  British 
arms/' 

JOHNSON,  THOMAS.       He    went    to    Eno-land    with    Lord 


588  JOHNSON.  — JOHNSTON. 

Cornwallis,  and  was  appointed  a  messenger  to  the  Lords 
Commissioners  of  the  Treasury.  He  died  in  King  Street, 
Westminster,  1799. 

JOHNSON,  WILLIAM.  Of  Connecticut,  or  New  York.  At 
the  peace  he  went  from  New  York  to  Shelburne,  Nova 
Scotia,  where  the  Crown  granted  him  one  town  lot.  He  was 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  unmarried.  Removed  to  Digby,  in 
the  same  Province,  and  died  there  in  1850,  leaving  a  large 
family. 

JOHNSON,  ICHABOD.  Of  New  Jersey.  A  Tory  plunderer. 
His  deeds  of  guilt  caused  the  Whig  authorities  to  offer  a 
reward  for  his  apprehension,  and  he  was  finally  killed,  in 
1788,  in  an  affray  with  a  party  of  light-horse  and  militia. 

JOHNSON,  -  — .  Captain  in  the  Loyalist  force  under 
Colonel  Thomas  Browne.  Killed  in  the  siege  of  Augusta, 
Georgia,  in  1780. 

JOHNSON,  NATHANIEL.  Died  at  Sussex,  King's  County, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1830,  aged  eighty-eight  years. 

JOHNSON,  WILLIAM.  Of  Delaware.  In  1778,  a  party 
of  Whigs  attempted  to  take  him  from  his  house,  but  were 
beaten  off.  They  returned  the  next  day,  in  greater  force, 
when  he  fled.  After  his  flight  his  house  was  burned,  and 
Samens,  one  of  his  party,  was  hanged  on  the  spot. 

JOHNSON.  Four  went  to  Shelburne,  Nova  Scotia,  at  the 
peace,  namely  :  John,  of  Philadelphia,  unmarried  ;  John,  of 
New  York  ;  George  and  Harmon,  of  New  Jersey,  with  their 
families.  John,  of  New  York,  was  a  merchant,  and  lost 
£3000  by  his  loyalty  ;  George  lost  £1000,  and  Harmon 
£700.  George  was  living  at  Shelburne  about  the  year  1805. 

JOHNSTON,  GEORGE  MILLIGEN.  Of  South  Carolina. 
Surgeon-General  of  all  the  British  Garrisons  in  South  Caro 
lina  and  Georgia.  u  In  public  life  he  was  conspicuous  for  his 
loyalty,  having,  at  the  beginning  of  the  American  Rebellion, 
not  only  risked  his  life,  but  sacrificed  considerable  property,  in 
consequence  of  his  unalterable  attachment  to  the  British 
Government."  lie  went  to  Great  Britain,  and  died  in  Scot 
land,  in  1799,  in  his  se venty -second  year.  Mary,  his  wife,  a 


JOHNSTON.  —  JONES.  589 

native  of  Charleston,  died   at   College-Green,   Bristol,  Eng 
land,  in  1797,  aged  sixty-six. 

JOHNSTON,  LEWIS.  Residence  unknown.  Was  banished 
and  attainted,  and  his  estate  confiscated.  In  1794  he  repre 
sented  to  the  British  Government,  by  his  attorney,  John 
Irvine,  that,  at  the  time  of  his  banishment,  several  large 
debts  were  due  to  him  in  America,  which  he  had  not  been 
able  to  recover.  It  appears  to  have  been  conceded  that  the 
Confiscation  Acts  did  not  embrace  sums  of  money  owing  to 
proscribed  Loyalists,  though  many  of  them  found  great  diffi 
culty  in  enforcing  payment. 

JOHNSTON,  ANDREW.  Captain  in  the  Florida  Rangers. 
Killed  in  1780,  in  the  attack  on  Augusta,  Georgia. 

JOHNSTON,  LAURENCE.  Of  Pennsylvania.  In  1777, 
Governor  Livingston  sent  him  prisoner  to  the  President  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  said,  that  he  appeared  "to  be  an  impudent, 
determined  villain,  undoubtedly  in  the  service  of  the  enemy;" 
and  that,  if  he  examined  him  apart  from  his  companion,  he 
would  u  find  Johnston  one  of  the  greatest  liars  he  ever  met 
with." 

JOHONNET,  PETER.  Distiller,  of  Boston.  An  Addresser 
of  Gage  in  1775  ;  was  proscribed  and  Banished  in  1778.  He 
went  to  Halifax  in  177C>,  thence  to  England,  and  was  a  Loy 
alist  Addresser  of  the  King  in  1779.  He  died  at  London,  in 
1809,  aged  seventy-nine. 

JOHONNET,  FRANCIS.  Of  Boston.  Went  to  England, 
and  was  in  London,  July,  1776.  He  died  previous  to  March, 
1777.  Mary,  his  widow,  who  died  at  Boston,  in  1797,  ad 
ministered  upon  his  estate  in  Massachusetts. 

JOLTJE.  MARTIN.  Of  Georgia.  In  the  effort,  1779,  to  re 
establish  the  Royal  Government,  he  was  appointed  a  member 
of  the  Council,  a  Commissioner  of  Claims,  a  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court,  and  of  Admiralty  ;  and  to  take  possession  of 
the  negroes  and  property  of  active  Whigs. 

JONES,  THOMAS.  Of  New  York.  By  his  marriage  to  a 
daughter  of  Lieutenant-Governor  James  De  Lancey,  and 
a  sister  of  the  wife  of  the  celebrated  Sir  William  Draper,  he 

VOL.  i.  50 


590  JONES. 

became  connected  also  with  the  families  of  Sir  Peter  Warren, 
of  the  British  Navy,  and  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  of  New 
York.  At  the  Revolutionary  era,  he  was  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and,  in  consequence  of  his  adherence  to  the 
Roval  cause,  lost  his  estate  under  the  Confiscation  Act.  In 
1779,  in  retaliation  for  the  capture  of  General  Silliman  by 
Glover  and  others,  a  party  of  Whigs  determined  to  seize 
upon  Judge  Jones,  at  his  seat  on  Long  Island.  Twenty- 
five  volunteered  for  the  purpose,  under  command  of  Captain 
Daniel  Hawley,  of  Newfield,  (now  Bridgeport,)  Connecticut. 
Hawley  and  his  associates  crossed  the  Sound  on  the  night  of 
November  4th,  and  reached  Judge  Jones's-  house,  —  a  distance 
of  fifty-two  miles  —  on  the  evening  of  the  6th.  There  was 
a  ball,  and  the  music  and  dancing  prevented  an  alarm.  The 
Judge  was  standing  in  his  entry  when  the  assailants  opened 
the  door,  and  was  taken  prisoner  and  borne  off.  A  party  of 
Royal  soldiers  was  near,  and  Jones,  in  passing,  hemmed  very 
loud  to  attract  their  attention.  Hawley  told  him  not  to  re 
peat  the  sound,  but  he  disobeyed,  and  was  threatened  with 
death  unless  he  desisted  from  further  endeavors  to  induce  the 
soldiers  to  come  to  his  rescue.  Though  six  of  the  Whigs 
were  captured  by  a  trqpp  of  horse,  the  remainder  of  the  party 
carried  their  prisoner  safely  to  Connecticut.  The  lady  of 
General  Silliman  invited  the  Judge  to  breakfast,  and  he  not 
only  accepted  of  her  hospitality  for  the  morning,  but  contin 
ued  her  guest  for  several  days.  But  he  remained  gloomy, 
distant,  and  reserved.  In  May,  1780,  the  object  of  his  seizure 
was  accomplished  ;  the  British  commander  having,  at  that 
time,  consented  to  give  up  General  Silliman  and  his  son,  in 
exchange  for  the  Judge  and  a  Mr.  Hewlett,  —  the  Whigs, 
however,  throwing  in  as  a  sort  of  make-weight  one  Washburn, 
a  Tory  of  infamous  character.  Judge  Jones  retired  to  Eng 
land,  and  there  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and,  as  it  is 
believed,  in  retirement. 

JONES,  JOHN.  Of  Maine.  Captain  in  Rogers's  Rangers. 
Of  a  dark  complexion,  he  was  called  "  Mahogany  Jones." 
Prior  to  the  war,  he  lived  at  or  near  Pownalborough,  and 


JONES.  591 

was  surveyor  of  the  Plymouth  Company.  As  the  troubles 
increased,  the  Whigs  accused  him  of  secreting  tea,  and  broke 
open  his  store.  Next,  they  fastened  him  to  a  long  rope,  and 
drafted  him  through  the  water  until  he  was  nearly  drowned. 

£r>£"5  o  J 

Finally,  to  put  an  end  to  his  exertions  against  the  popular 
cause,  he  was  committed  to  jail  in  Boston.  He  escaped,  went 
to  Quebec  in  1780,  and  received  a  commission  in  the  Ran 
gers.  In  Maine  again  before  the  peace,  he  annoyed  his  per 
sonal  foes  there  repeatedly.  Among  his  feats  was  the  capture 
of  his  "  old  enemy,"  General  Charles  Gushing,  of  Pownal- 
borough.  Jones's  own  story  is,  in  substance,  that,  pretend 
ing  to  be  a  Whig  and  a  friend,  dishing  rose  from  his  bed, 
put  on  his  breeches,  came  down  stairs,  obtained  a  candle, 
and  opened  the  door  ;  that  Mrs.  Gushing  soon  followed  her 
husband,  but  returned,  put  her  head  out  of  the  chamber  win 
dow,  and  screamed  "  Murder!"  and  that  he  told  her,  if  she 
did  not  hold  her  tongue,  his  Indians  would  scalp  her.  Fur 
ther,  that  he  gave  the  General  shoes  and  stockings,  and 
marched  him  oft"  through  the  woods  four  days  to  the  British 
post,  (now  Castine,)  at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot. 

Jones,  immediately  after  the  peace,  was  at  Grand  Menan, 
Bay  of  Fundy,  and  interested  in  lands  granted  on  that  island 
to  Loyalists.  In  1784,  he  resumed  his  business  as  surveyor, 
on  the  river  St.  Croix.  At  length,  "  his  Toryism  forgotten," 
he  removed  to  the  Kennebec.  In  1793,  he  made  a  map  of 
the  country  on  the  last  named  river.  Of  great  courage,  he 
surveyed  the  Company's  lands  "  at  a  time  when  squatters, 
disguised  as  Indians,  threatened  the  lives  of  all  who  should 
attempt"  that  service.  He  died  at  Augusta,  Maine. 

At  Jones's  Eddy,  below  Bath,  Mr.  Charles  Vauglian,  a 
wealthy  merchant  of  Boston,  designed  to  found  a  great  sea 
port,  and  erected  wharves  and  buildings  to  accommodate  the 
business  which  he  expected  would  be  transacted  there  ;  hence 
the  map  above  mentioned.  The  project  was  an  utter  failure. 

JONES,  OWEN,  JR.  Of  Pennsylvania.  In  1777,  ordered 
by  the  Board  of  War  to  be  removed  from  Winchester  to 
Staunton,  there  to  be  kept  in  close  jail,  and  to  be  deprived  of 


592  JONES. 

the  free  use  of  writing  materials,  because  he  had  kept  up  a  cor 
respondence  with  persons  in  Pennsylvania,  and  had  exchanged 
gold  at  extravagant  premiums  for  paper  money.  He  appealed 
to  Mr.  Duane,  on  the  ground  of  former  friendship,  and  as  his 
only  acquaintance  in  Congress,  to  use  his  influence  to  "alle 
viate  this  cruel  sentence  "  ;  and  averred  that  his  only  offence 
consisted  in  sending  sixteen  half-joes  to  be  converted  into  Con 
tinental  money,  in  order  to  supply  himself  with  the  necessaries 
of  life. 

JONES,  DAVID.  Of  Connecticut.  Suffered  much  at  the 
hands  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  in  1775  ;  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pe 
ters,  of  Hebron,  in  a  letter  to  his  mother,  recommended  that 
he  "should  draught  a  narrative  of  his  woes,"  to  be  sent  to  him 
at  Boston.  This,  as  I  suppose,  was  the  David  Jones  who  en 
tered  the  Royal  service,  and  was  a  captain.  If  so,  he  was  to 
have  married  the  beautiful  Jane  McCrea,  whose  cruel  death, 
in  1777,  by  the  Indians,  is  universally  knowrn  and  lamented. 
The  fate  of  Captain  Jones  is  uncertain.  One  account  is,  that, 
desperate  and  careless  of  life,  he  was  slain  in  the  battle  of 
Bemis's  Heights  ;  another,  that  he  died  about  three  years 
afterward,  broken-hearted  and  insane ;  while  Lossing  says, 
that  he  lived  in  Canada  to  old  age,  and  died  within  a  few 
years.  He  never  married.  After  Jane's  death  he  was  sad 
and  silent,  and  avoided  society  as  much  as  circumstances 
would  permit. 

JONES,  ELISHA.  Of  Weston,  Massachusetts.  Colonel  in 
the  militia.  Died  in  1775,  aged  sixty-six.  He  was  the  father 
of  fourteen  sons  and  of  one  daughter. 

JONES,  ELISHA.  Of  Weston,  Massachusetts.  Son  of 
Colonel  Elisha.  Went  to  Weymouth,  Nova  Scotia,  but  died 
in  the  United  States,  in  1784,  leaving  seven  children. 

JONES,  JOSIAH.  Physician,  of  Weston,  Massachusetts.  Son 
of  Colonel  Elisha.  He  joined  the  British  Army  at  Boston,  soon 
after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  in  1775,  and  was  sent  by  General 
Gage,  in  the  sloop  Polly,  to  Nova  Scotia,  to  procure  hay  and 
other  articles  for  the  use  of  the  troops.  On  the  passage  he 
was  made  prisoner,  and  sent  by  the  Committee  of  Arundel, 


JONES. 

Maine,  to  the  Provincial  Congress  ;  and  after  due  investiga 
tion  of  his  case  bv  a  committee  of  that  body,  he  was  com 
mitted  to  jail  at  Concord.  Obtaining  release,  after  some 
months'  imprisonment,  he  again  joined  the  Royal  forces,  and 
received  an  appointment  in  the  Commissary  Department.  In 
1782  he  went  to  Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  settled. 
He  made  a  voyage  to  England  to  obtain  half-pay,  and  was 
successful.  He  was  senior  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  the  county  of  Annapolis  many  years.  He  died  in 
1825,  at  Annapolis,  aged  eighty  ;  and  Margaret  Jude,  his 
widow,  died  at  Digby,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1828,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four.  Four  children  survived  him,  namely  :  Stephen  ; 
Charlotte,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Thomas  White,  of  Westport,  Nova 
Scotia ;  Charles,  a  merchant  of  Halifax  ;  and  Edward,  a  mer 
chant  of  Westport.  His  property  in  Massachusetts  was  con 
fiscated.  Dr.  Jones  was  a  man  of  good  powers,  and  of  a  cul 
tivated  mind.  His  family  retain  the  impression  that  he  was 
educated  at  Harvard  University,  but  his  name  does  not  ap 
pear  on  the  catalogue  of  graduates. 

JONES,  SIMEON.  Of  Weston,  Massachusetts.  Son  of 
Colonel  Elisha.  In  1782  lie  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  King's 
American  Dragoons.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Bruns 
wick,  at  the  peace,  and  received  the  grant  of  a  city  lot  in 
1784.  He  removed  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  died  at  Weymouth, 
in  1823,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two. 

JONES,  STEPHEN.  Of  Weston,  Massachusetts.  Son  of 
Colonel  Elisha.  Graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1775. 
He  accepted  a  commission  under  the  Crown,  and  was  an 
officer  in  the  King's  American  Dragoons.  He  settled  in 
Nova  Scotia  at  the  close  of  the  contest,  and,  at  his  decease, 
was  the  oldest  magistrate  of  the  county  of  Annapolis.  He 
was  the  last  survivor  of  fourteen  sons.  He  died  at  Wey 
mouth,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1830,  aged  seventy-six.  He  married 
Sarah  Goldsbury,  who  (1801)  survives,  at  the  age  of  ninety. 
His  son,  Guy  Carleton  Jones,  holds  a  public  office  at  Digby, 
Nova  Scotia. 

JONES,    ISAAC.      Of   Weston,    Massachusetts.      Innholder 
50* 


594  JONES. 

and  trader.  In  January,  1775,  the  Whig  Convention  of 
Worcester  County  denounced  him  in  the  following  terms  : 
"  Resolved,  That  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  all  the  in 
habitants  of  this  county,  not  to  have  any  commercial  con 
nections  with  Isaac  Jones,  but  to  shun  his  house  and  person, 
and  to  treat  him  with  the  contempt  he  deserves  ;  and  should 
any  persons  in  this  county  be  so  lost  to  a  sense  of  their  duty, 
after  this  recommendation,  as  to  have  any  commercial  con 
nections  with  the  said  Tory,  we  do  advise  the  inhabitants  of 
this  county  to  treat  such  persons  with  the  utmost  neglect." 
He  died  at  Weston,  in  1813,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five. 

JONES,  EDWARD.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  at  the  peace, 
and  died  at  Spoon  Island,  in  that  Province,  in  1831,  aged 
eighty-eight. 

JONES,  CALEB.  Of  Maryland.  Sheriff  of  Somerset 
County.  In  1776,  ordered  in  the  Council  of  Safety,  after  hear 
ing  depositions  in  his  favor,  that  he  recognize  in  <£200,  with 
good  security,  for  due  obedience  to  the  Whig  authorities. 
Some  months  after,  he  escaped  from  Baltimore,  and  arrived 
at  New  York  in  the  frigate  Brune.  He  entered  the  Mary 
land  Loyalists  subsequently,  and  was  a  captain.  At  the 
peace  he  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  was  a 
grantee  of  that  city.  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  died  at  St.  John, 
in  1812,  aged  sixty-eight. 

JONES,  -  — .  Cornet  in  the  Queen's  Rangers.  Killed 
in  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  and  buried  at  Williamsburg  with 
military  honors. 

JONES,  EDWARD.  Of  Ridgefield,  Connecticut.  Was  ex 
ecuted  by  General  Putnam,  in  1779,  at  a  place  called  Gal 
lows'  Hill.  The  scene  is  described  as  shocking.  "  The  man 
on  whom  the  duty  of  hangman  devolved  left  the  camp,  and 
on  the  day  of  execution  could  not  be  found.  A  couple  of 
boys,  about  the  age  of  twelve  years,  were  ordered  by  Gen 
eral  Putnam  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  absconding  hang 
man.  The  gallows  was  about  twenty  feet  from  the  ground. 
Jones  was  compelled  to  ascend  the  ladder,  and  the  rope 
around  his  neck  was  attached  to  the  cross-beam.  General 


JONES.  595 

Putnam  then  ordered  Jones  to  jump  from  the  ladder.  '  No, 
General  Putnam,'  said  Jones,  '  I  am  innocent  of  the  crime 
laid  to  my  charge  ;  I  shall  not  do  it/  Putnam  then  ordered 
the  boys  before  mentioned  to  turn  the  ladder  over.  These 
boys  were  deeply  affected  with  the  trying  scene  ;  they  cried 
and  sobbed  loudly,  and  earnestly  entreated  to  be  excused 
from  doing  anything  on  this  distressing  occasion.  Putnam, 
drawing  his  sword,  ordered  them  forward,  and  compelled 
them  at  the  sword's  point  to  obey  his  orders/' 

JONES,  -  — .  Captain  in  Ganey's  Tory  banditti.  An 
infamous  fellow.  One  of  his  murders  was  singularly  atro 
cious,  lie  promised  Colonel  Kobb,  who  surrendered  a  pris 
oner  of  war,  personal  safety,  but  immediately  killed  him  in 
the  presence  of  his  wife  and  children,  and  burned  his  house. 

JONES,  ICHABOD.  Of  Maine.  He  removed  from  Boston 
about  170-5,  and  was  a  land  and  mill-owner.  In  the  House 
of  Representatives,  August,  1775,  it  was  resolved  :  "Whereas 
Ichabod  Jones,  late  of  Machias,  a  known  enemy  to  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  America,  has  fled,  leaving  at  Machias  a  con 
siderable  estate,  real  and  personal  :  It  is  therefore  recom 
mended  to  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  that  place  to  take 
effectual  care  of  said  estate,  agreeable  to  the  resolves  and 
recommendations  of  the  late  Provincial  Congress."  In  Au 
gust,  1776,  Mr.  Jones,  as  appears  in  his  petition  to  the 
Council  and  House  of  Representatives,  was  confined  to  the 
town  of  Northampton,  under  large  bonds,  and  with  scanty 
means  of  subsistence.  Again,  that,  when  seized  at  Machias, 
the  people  there  owed  him  and  his  associates  nearly  .£4000  ; 
that  he  had  been  informed  of  the  possession  of  his  property 
by  the  newr  authorities,  and  that  he  desired  to  be  heard 
touching  his  conduct  and  his  pecuniary  affairs. 

JONES,  JOHN.  A  corporal  in  the  First  Regiment  of  Penn 
sylvania  Artillery.  He  deserted  to  the  Royal  side,  and  gave 
"  intelligence,''  dated  February  15,  1780.  In  this  paper  he 
says  that  he  "  listed  August,  1770,  for  three  years,  but  be 
cause  he  had  no  certificate  to  show,  was  obliged  to  take  the 
one  hundred  dollars,  and  serve  for  the  war." 


596  JONES.  -  KEAN. 

JONES,  JOHN.  Of  Bristol,  Connecticut.  Son  of  Captain 
Nathaniel  Jones.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1776, 
and  went  immediately  to  Long  Island,  as  Captain  of  Marines. 
He  was  killed  at  sea,  in  the  first  fight  in  which  the  vessel 
was  engaged,  and,  probably,  before  the  close  of  the  year  1776. 

JONES,  -  — .  Of  North  Carolina.  Notorious  marau 
der.  Taken  and  hung. 

JONES,  JONATHAN.  Of  New  York.  Brother  of  Jane 
McCrea's  lover.  Late  in  1776,  he  assisted  in  raising  a  com 
pany  in  Canada,  and  joined  the  British  in  garrison  at  Crown 
Point.  Later  in  the  war  he  was  a  captain,  and  served  under 
General  Frazer. 

JORDAN,  JOHN,  FRANCIS,  and  JAMES.  Removed  to  New 
Brunswick  in  1783.  John  and  Francis  were  grantees  of  St. 
John.  James  died  in  that  city,  in  1846,  aged  eighty-five 
years. 

JOUETTE  or  JEWETT,  ZENOPHON.  Of  New  Jersey.  In 
1782  he  was  an  ensign  in  the  First  Battalion  of  New  Jersey 
Volunteers.  He  settled  in  New  Brunswick,  and  received 
half-pay.  In  1792  he  held  the  office  of  Sheriff  of  York 
County.  He  relinquished  the  post  during  the  war  of  1812, 
and  was  attached  to  a  regiment  raised  in  that  Colony.  He 
was  Gentleman  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod  to  the  Council  many 
years.  He  died  at  St.  John  in  1843. 

JOY,  JOHN.  Housewright,  of  Boston.  An  Addresser  of 
Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  of  Gage  in  1775.  In  1776  he 
went  to  Halifax,  with  his  family  of  seven  persons,  and  was 
proscribed  and  banished  in  1778.  In  1779  he  was  in  Eng 
land. 

JUDSON,  CHAPMAN.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick, 
at  the  peace,  and  was  grantee  of  a  city  lot.  He  received  an 
appointment  in  the  Ordnance  Department.  He  died  at  St. 
John,  in  1817,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six. 

KEAN,  WILLIAM.  Of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  Adjutant 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Loyalists,  and  settled  in  New  Bruns 
wick  after  the  corps  was  disbanded.  Ann,  his  widow,  died 
at  St.  John,  in  1820,  aged  sixty-four. 


KEARSLEY.  -KELLY.  597 

KEARSLEY,  JOHN.  Of  Philadelphia.  Physician.  A  man 
of  ardent  feelings  ;  his  /ealous  attachment  to  the  Royal  cause, 
and  his  impetuous  temper,  made  him  obnoxious  to  those  whose 
acts  he  opposed.  He  was  seized  at  his  own  house,  in  the  sum 
mer  or  autumn  of  177  ">,  and  carted  through  the  streets  to  the 
tune  of  the  "  Rogue's  March."  In  the  a  ft  ray,  he  was  wounded 
in  the  hand  by  a  bayonet.  When  mounted,  the  mob  gave  a 
loud  huzza  ;  and  the  Doctor,  to  show  his  contempt  of  "  the  peo 
ple,"  took  his  wig  in  his  injured  hand,  and  swinging  it  around 
his  head,  huzzaed  louder  and  longer  than  his  persecutors.  The 
ride  over,  it  was  determined  to  tar  and  feather  him  ;  but  this 
was  abandoned,  to  the  disappointment  of  many.  The  doors 
and  windows  of  his  house  were,  however,  broken  by  stones 
and  brickbats.  The  same  year  he  was  put  in  prison,  for  writ 
ing  letters  abusive  of  the  Whigs  ;  and,  while  there,  Stephen 
Bayard  was  allowed  to  attend  to  the  settlement  of  his  affairs. 
His  sufferings  caused  insanity,  which  continued  until  his 
decease.  He  died  in  prison  about  fifteen  months  after  his 
ride  in  the  "  Tory  cart/'  He  was  attainted  of  treason, 
and  his  estate  confiscated.  His  uncle,  of  the  same  Christian 
name,  and  a  physician  of  Philadelphia,  died  there  in  1772. 

KEATING,  —  — .  Captain  in  the  New  Jersey  Volunteers, 
in  1777,  and  sent  to  Trenton. 

KEECH,  ROBERT.  Of  New  York.  Died  in  Dorchester, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1842,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

KEEN,  REYNOLD.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Attainted  of  trea 
son.  Pardoned  by  Act  of  the  Assembly,  and  such  part  of  his 
estate  as  had  not  been  sold  by  the  Commissioners  of  Confisca 
tion,  restored  to  him. 

KELLOCK,  ALEXANDER.  Surgeon  in  the  Queen's  Rangers. 
Very  capable  and  attentive  to  his  duties,  records  the  com 
mander  of  that  corps.  When,  in  1770,  Simcoc  was  wounded 
and  taken  prisoner,  Kellock  went  to  Brunswick,  New  Jersey, 
with  a  flag  to  attend  him,  and  Governor  Livingston  ordered 
that  he  should  not  be  molested. 

KELLY,  -  — .  Deserted  from  the  Whig  Army,  and 
joined  the  Queen's  Rangers  as  a  sergeant.  Taken  prisoner, 


598  KELLY. -KEMPE. 

and  put  in  jail  to  await  execution.  Released  on  the  threat 
of  Simcoe,  that,  if  Kelly  suffered  death,  he  would  leave  to  the 
mercy  of  his  soldiers  the  first  six  Rebels  who  should  fall  into 
his  hands. 

KELLY,  WALDRON.  Residence  unknown.  A  captain  in 
the  Royal  Garrison  Battalion. 

KELLY,  JOHN.  Died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in 
1827,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  He  was  blind  sixteen  years. 

KELLY,  WILLIAM.  Died  at  the  same  place,  in  1826,  aged 
seventy-four. 

KELSALL,  ROGER.  Of  Georgia.  In  the  effort  to  reestablish 
the  Royal  Government,  in  1779,  he  was  appointed  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Council,  a  Commissioner  of  Claims,  and  a  Com 
missioner  to  take  possession  of  the  negroes  and  other  property 
of  active  "Whigs.  Attainted  of  treason  and  estate  confiscated. 
KEMBLE,  STEPHEN.  Deputy  Adjutant-General  of  the 
British  Army  in  1777.  I  suppose  of  the  New  Jersey  family, 
and  a  relative  of  the  wife  of  General  Gao;e. 

<!!!? 

KEMP, .  Of  Georgia.  Lieutenant  in  the  King's 

Rangers.  Stripped  and  killed,  with  nine  of  his  men,  for  re 
fusing  to  join  the  Whigs,  on  becoming  prisoners.  Eleven  of 
the  perpetrators  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Loyalists  and  were 
hung. 

KEMPE,  JOHN  TABOR.  Of  New  York.  Last  Royal  Attor 
ney-General.  While  absent  in  England,  in  1767,  the  duties  of 
his  office  were  entrusted  to  James  Duane.  Governor  Tryon 
wrote  Lord  Dartmouth,  November,  1775,  that  "  the  sword 
is  drawn,"  and  that  the  Attorney-General  was  with  him  on 
board  the  ship  DueJtess  of  Gordon,  in  the  harbor  of  New 
York.  In  February,  1776,  Mr.  Kempe  had  been  transferred 
to  the  Asia  ship  of  war,  in  the  waters  of  Raritan  Bay  ;  and, 
while  there,  lie  wrote  the  following  lines  to  greet  Cortlandt 
Skinner,  Attorney-General  of  New  Jersey  :  — 

Welcome,  welcome,  brother  Tory, 
To  this  merry  floating  place  ! 
I  came  here  a  while  before  ye  ;  — 
Coming  here  is  no  disgrace. 


KEMPE.  599 

Freedom  finds  a  safe  retreat  here, 
On  the  bosom  of  the  wave; 
You  she  invites  to  meet  here  : 
Welcome,  then,  thou  Tory  brave  ! 

As  you  serve,  like  us,  the  King,  sir, 
In  a  hammock  you  must  lay  ; 
Better  far  'tis  so  to  swing,  sir, 
Than  to  swing  another  way. 

Though  we  've  not  dry  land  to  walk  on, 
The  quarter-deck  is  smooth  to  tread ; 
Hear  how  fast,  while  we  are  talking, 
Barrow  1  trips  it  overhead. 

Should  vile  Whigs  come  here  to  plunder, 
Quick  we  send  them  whence  they  came  ; 
They  should  hear  the  Asia  thunder, 
And  see  the  Phoenix  in  a  ilame. 

Neptune's  gallant  sons  befriend  us, 
While  at  anchor  here  we  ride ; 
Britain's  wooden  walls  defend  us,  — 
Britain's  glory,  and  her  pride. 

His  property  was  confiscated.  The  wife  of  Francis  Lewis,  a 
signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  having  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  the  wife  of  Mr.  Keinpe  having 
become  a  prisoner  of  the  Whigs,  an  exchange  was  effected 
towards  the  close  of  1776. 

The  Whigs  established  a  government  in  1777  ;  but  as  the 
British  Army  held  the  city  of  New  York,  Long  and  Staten 
Islands,  &c.,  there  was  also  a  Royal  government,  and  Mr. 
Kempe  was  considered  in  office  during  the  war.  Yet  his 
name  seldom  appears.  I  find  it  last,  July  30,  1782,  in  a  cor 
respondence  between  Sir  Gay  Carleton  and  Washington,  in 
connection  with  the  Untidy  murder.  [See  Richard  Lippin- 
c'fft.~]  The  Attorney-General's  furniture  was  sold  at  auction 
in  New  York,  June,  1788.  He  went  to  England  and  died 
there.  His  widow  deceased  at  Clifton,  in  1831,  and  his 
daughter,  Anne,  at  the  same  place,  in  1838. 

1  The  deputy  paymaster  of  the  Royal  Army,  who  was  also  a  refugee  on 
board  the  Asia,  and  continually  walked  the  deck. 


KENAN.  -  KENT. 

KENAN,  FELIX.  Of  North  Carolina.  He  was  Sheriff  of 
the  County  of  Duplin,  and  was  dismissed  by  the  Provincial 
Congress,  May,  1776.  A  man  of  whom  it  was  pithily  said, 
"  he  had  not  the  independence  to  be  a  Tory,  or  the  honesty 
to  be  a  Whig."  Thousands,  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
were  as  like  him  as  possible.  He  bore  arms  under  General 
McDonald,  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge. 

KENDRICK,  THOMAS.  He  died  on  the  Island  of  Campo 
Bello,  New  Brunswick,  in  1821,  aged  seventy-two. 

KENNEDY,  PATRICK.  Of  Baltimore.  Physician.  Escaped 
to  New  York  in  1777,  and  subsequently  was  a  captain  in  the 
Maryland  Loyalists.  In  1783  he  embarked  for  Nova  Scotia, 
in  the  transport  ship  Marti ta^  and  was  wrecked  on  the  passage. 
[See  James  Henley J\  He  and  several  others  were  saved  by 
some  fishing  vessels.  He  was  a  grantee  of  the  city  of  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick. 

KENT,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Massachusetts.  Graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1727.  He  was  minister  at  Marl- 
borough  for  a  short  time,  but  entered  upon  the  profession  of 
the  law,  and  established  himself  at  Boston.  He  wras  a  Whig, 
it  appeal's,  for  awhile,  and  his  name  is  to  be  found  among 
those  of  Samuel  Adams,  Gushing,  Warren,  Hancock,  and 
other  prominent  leaders  of  the  patriot  band.  A  Refugee ;  he 
died  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1788,  aged  eighty-one. 
Elizabeth,  his  widow,  survived  until  1802.  He  was  eccentric, 
and  a  wit.  His  conduct  as  a  clergyman  is  said  to  have  been 
•unclerical  and  humorous.  John  Adams,  in  1759,  said  :  "Kent 
is  for  fun,  drollery,  humor,  flouts,  jeers,  contempt.  He  has  an 
irregular,  unmethodical  head,  but  his  thoughts  are  often  good, 
and  his  expressions  happy."  From  a  letter  written  by  Kent, 
in  1771,  I  extract  a  single  line  :  "  Saint  Paul,  though  some 
times  a  little  inclined  to  Toryism,  was  a  very  sensible  gentle 
man,  and  he  expressly  damns  the  fearful  as  well  as  the  un 
believing." 

O 

To  the  gentlemen  who  have  suggested  that  the  subject  of 
this  notice  was  not  a  Loyalist,  I  return  my  warm  thanks  for 
the  endeavor  to  correct  an  inaccuracy  in  this  work  ;  but  the 
name  was  not  inserted  in  the  first  edition  without  thought, 


KENT.  — KEY.  601 

and  is  retained  now,  after  due  consideration  of  the  circum 
stances  to  which  my  attention  lias  since  been  kindly  directed. 

KENT,  STEPHEN.  Went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  at 
the  peace,  was  a  grantee  of  that  city,  and  died  there  in  1828, 
aged  eighty. 

KERR,  JAMES.  He  accepted  a  commission  under  the 
Crown,  and  was  a  captain  in  the  Queen's  Rangers.  The 
corps  was  disbanded  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  retired 
on  half-pay.  He  went  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and 
was  a  grantee  of  that  city  ;  but  removed  to  King's  County, 
Nova  Scotia,  where  he  settled,  and  was  a  colonel  in  the 
militia.  He  died  at  Arnherst,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1830,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six.  Eliza,  his  widow,  died  at  Cornwallis, 
Nova  Scotia,  1840,  aged  seventy-four.  Three  sons  and  a 
daughter  preceded  him,  but  twelve  children  survived  him. 

KETCHAM,  ISAAC.  Of  New  York.  Died  in  King's 
County,  New  Brunswick,  in  1820,  aged  sixty-four.  His 
widow  died  in  1821,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four. 

KEY,  PHILIP  BARTON.  Of  Maryland.  He  joined  the 
British  Army  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and  in 
1778  held  a  commission  in  the  Maryland  Loyalists.  Four 
years  later,  he  was  a  captain  in  that  corps.  He  served  in 
Florida,  was  made  prisoner  there,  but,  released  on  parole,  he 
went  to  England.  At  the  peace  he  retired  on  half-pay.  In 
1785  he  returned  to  Maryland,  and  five  years  afterward  set 
tled  in  Annapolis.  He  was  elected  to  the  General  Assembly 
in  1794,  and  was  a  member  of  that  body  for  some  time. 
Previous  to  his  first  election,  he  sold  his  half-pay  to  General 
Forrest,  his  brother-in-law.  The  General  became  bankrupt 
in  1802,  when,  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Key,  transfer  was 
made  back  in  satisfaction  -pro  tanto  of  the  debt ;  but  as  the 
General's  family  were  in  a  destitute  condition,  they  received 
the  benefit  of  the  half-pay  for  three  years.  In  1806,  Mr. 
Key  directed  his  agent  in  London  to  resign,  at  the  proper 
office,  all  further  claims  on  the  British  Government ;  and  he 
himself  made  a  formal  resignation  of  the  same,  in  1807,  in 
a  letter  addressed  to  his  Majesty's  minister  at  Washington. 
VOL.  i.  51 


602  KEY.  — KIDDER. 

Mr.  Key  was  elected  to  the  Tenth  Congress,  and  his  right  to 
a  seat  in  that  body  was  contested.  The  facts  above  stated, 
assented  to  by  Mr.  Key,  appear  in  the  report  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Elections.  The  vote  in  the  House  was  close  ;  on 
the  18th  of  March,  1808,  his  right  was  affirmed,  57  to  52. 
It  should  be  added,  that,  though  he  wras  a  military  officer  of 
the  Crown,  lie  never  took  the  oath  of  allegiance.  From  the 
debate,  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  much  of  the  opposition  to  him 
was  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  a  citizen  of  Maryland. 

I  make  a  single  extract  from  Mr.  Key's  own  speech  :  — 
"  His  constituents  knew  the  very  circumstances  of  the  follies 
of  his  early  life,  and  his  enemies  had  represented  to  them, 
that,  having  been  once,  twenty  years  ago,  in  the  British 
Army,  he  was  not  a  proper  person  to  represent  them.  The 
people  scouted  the  idea  ;  they  knew  me  from  my 

infancy  ;  but  I  had  returned  to  my  country,  like 

the  prodigal  son  to  his  father ;  had  felt  as  an  American 
should  feel ;  was  received,  forgiven,  ...  of  which  the 
most  convincing  proof  is  ...  my  election "  to  this 
House.  He  served  in  Congress  until  the  year  1813.  As  a 
lawyer  he  was  distinguished.  He  died  at  Georgetown,  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  in  1815. 

KEY,  ROBERT.  A  soldier  in  the  Continental  Army  ;  in 
April,  1777,  executed  at  Coventry,  Rhode  Island,  for  at 
tempting  to  desert  to  the  Royal  Army. 

KIDDER,  REUBEN.  Of  New  Ipswich,  New  Hampshire. 
He  was  the  richest  man  in  that  town,  and  at  the  Revolu 
tionary  era  had  done  more  than  any  other  person  to  promote 
its  growth  and  prosperity.  He  was  agent  of  lands  owrned  by 
the  Wentworths,  and  other  gentlemen  of  note  in  Portsmouth  ; 
and,  appointed  a  magistrate  and  a  colonel  in  the  militia  by 
the  last  Governor  Wentworth,  felt  honestly  bound  to  adhere 
to  the  Crown.  He  was  superseded  in  his  civil  and  military 
offices,  and  was  inactive  during  the  war.  He  refused  to 
acknowledge  the  Whig  Government  of  the  State,  but  re 
mained  upon  his  estate  without  molestation.  Though  opposed 
to  the  Revolution,  he  still  paid  the  taxes  levied  upon  his 


KILBORN.  —  KIRKLAND.  003 

property,  and  thus  lost  nothing  but  his  influence  and  popu 
larity.      He  died  at  New  Ipswich,  in  170->,  aged  seventy. 

KILBORN,  BENJAMIN.  Of  Litchfield,  Connecticut.  Lieu 
tenant  in  a  company  of  militia;  cashiered  by  the  House  of 
Assembly  (December,  1775,)  for  his  "  toryism." 

KING,  COLONEL  RICHARD.  Of  South  Carolina.  He 
commanded  the  "  South  Carolina  Loyal  Militia,"  under 
Cruger,  at  Ninety-Six,  when  besieged  by  General  Greene,  in 
1781,  and  had  permission  to  leave ;  and  as  his  two  hundred 
men  were  mounted,  he  might  have  retired  to  Charleston  or 
Georgia,  but  he  turned  his  horses  loose  in  the  woods,  and 
resolved  to  remain  and  assist  in  the  defence.  He  died  before 
the  peace.  His  estate,  in  the  possession  of  his  heirs,  was  con 
fiscated. 

KING,  EDWARD.  A  Sandemanian,  of  Boston.  An  Ad 
dresser  of  Hutchinson  in  1774,  and  a  Protester  against  the 
Whigs.  Embarked  for  Halifax  with  the  King's  Army  in 
1770.  Samuel,  also  of  Boston,  accompanied  him,  and  died 
at  Halifax,  in  1822,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one. 

KING,  WILLIAM.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  ;  was  clerk 
in  the  Royal  Engineer  Department;  died  at  Fredericton,  the 
capital  of  that  Province,  in  1804. 

KIP,  SAMUKL.  Of  West  Chester  County,  New  York. 
His  family  relations  to  the  British  Government,  and  his 
intimacy  with  Colonel  De  Lancey,  are  assigned  as  reasons  for 
predisposing  him  to  espouse  the  Royal  cause.  He  raised  a 
company  of  cavalry,  and  "  embarked  all  his  interests  in  the 
contest/'  He  was  a  landholder,  and  his  soldiers  were  prin 
cipally  his  own  tenants.  In  charging  a  body  of  Whig  troops, 
in  \Vest  Chester  County,  in  1781,  his  horse  was  killed,  and 
he  was  himself  severely  wounded.  He  survived  the  close  of 
the  war  several  years.  His  reputation  was  that  of  "  an  active 
and  daring  partisan  officer." 

KIP,  JACOHUS.  Of  Kipsburgh,  Xew  York.  Captain  in 
the  British  Infantry.  Died  before  the  peace,  which  saved  his 
estate  from  confiscation. 

KIRKLAND,  MOSES.      Of  South  Carolina.     A  man  "  whose 


604  KIRKLAND. 

vanity  and  ambition  had  not  been  sufficiently  gratified  by  his 
countrymen."  He  owned  a  plantation  in  the  back  part  of 
the  State,  with  several  negroes.  At  the  outset,  he  took  part 
with  the  Whigs,  and  his  disaffection  is  said  to  have  arisen 
from  his  being  "  overlooked  by  the  Provincial  Congress  in  the 
military  appointments."  He  changed  sides  in  the  affair  with 
the  Cunninghams,  July,  1775.  At  the  time  of  his  desertion, 
he  commanded  a  troop  of  Rangers,  who  followed  him  to  a 
man,  and,  by  his  influence,  others  in  the  Whig  service  joined 
the  Royal  party.  A  short  time  before  his  defection,  Kirkland 
was  placed  upon  an  important  standing  committee  raised  by 
the  Provincial  Congress  to  act  throughout  the  Colony. 

He  arrived  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida,  September,  1775. 
The  account  of  his  flight,  as,  I  suppose,  given  by  himself,  is, 
that  William  Henry  Drayton  endeavored  to  win  him  to  the 
Whig  cause,  but  failed  ;  that  then  a  reward  of  two  thousand 
pounds  sterling  was  offered  for  his  apprehension  ;  that,  after 
a  journey  of  two  hundred  miles,  he  arrived  at  Lord  William 
Campbell's  house,  and  thence  fled  to  a  man-of-war  ;  and  that 
his  son,  a  lad  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  escaped  in  the  disguise  of 
a  girl.  Further,  that,  after  his  departure,  his  plantation  was 
robbed  of  five  thousand  pounds  of  indigo,  and  his  sixty 
negroes  were  stolen  or  dispersed.  Early  in  the  contest,  lie 
was  employed  by  Stuart,  the  Indian  Agent  of  the  British 
authorities  with  the  Cherokees  and  Creeks,  to  concert  meas 
ures  with  General  Gage  for  an  attack  on  the  Southern  States. 
The  plan  appears  to  have  been,  for  the  Royal  forces  to 
operate  by  sea,  and  the  savages  by  land.  Kirkland  was  cap 
tured  on  his  voyage  to  Boston,  his  papers  were  seized,  and 
the  plot  fully  discovered.  He  escaped  from  the  Philadelphia 
jail,  May,  1776,  and  was  advertised  thus  :  — "  He  is  a  stout 
corpulent  man,  between  fifty  and  sixty  years  of  age,  about 
five  feet  ten  inches  high,  of  a  swarthy  complexion,  fresh 
colored,  and  wears  his  own  gray  hair  tied  behind.  He  had 
on  a  green  coat  faced  with  blue  velvet,  a  blue  velvet  waist 
coat,  and  brown  velvet  breeches,"  &c.  After  the  surrender 
of  Charleston,  in  1780,  he  held  a  commission  under  the 
Crown.  His  estate  was  confiscated. 


KIRK.  — KISSAM.  605 

KIRK,  THOMAS.  Of  Boston.  Officer  of  the  Customs. 
When  Hancock's  vessel,  laden  with  wines  from  Madeira, 
arrived  at  Boston,  he  went  on  board  in  the  common  course 
of  duty.  In  the  evening,  several  proposals  were  made  to 
him  to  allow  the  cargo  to  be  smuggled,  which  he  rejected ; 
and,  in  consequence,  was  confined  below,  until  the  wines  were 
taken  on  shore.  The  master  made  entry  of  a  part  the  next 
day,  but  seizure  followed  for  a  false  entry.  [See  Hallowell, 
and  Harrison,  Collectors  of  the  Customs.^ 

KIRK,  RICHARD.  Of  New  York.  In  1776  he  was  an 
Addresser  of  Lord  Howe.  He  owned  the  place  now  called 
Cedarmere,  from  a  little  lake  on  it,  quite  encircled  with  red- 
cedars,  and  now  the  residence  of  William  Cullen  Bryant. 
"Kirk,  in  his  time,"  Mr.  Bryant  kindly  wrote  me,  (March  4, 
1861,)  "  gathered  the  water  from  several  springs,  breaking 
out  at  the  foot  of  the  hills  close  to  the  harbor,  into  a  pond 
with  an  irregular  embankment,  and  used  it  to  turn  the  ma 
chinery  of  a  paper-mill  ;  one  of  the  first  erected  in  this 
country.  The  mill  was  burned  down  a  few  years  since,  and 
afterwards  the  place  came  into  my  possession." 

KISSAM,  DANIEL.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  A  magis 
trate,  and  known  as  "  Justice  Kissam."  In  1774  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence,  and  the  next 
year,  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  also  one  of  the  four 
teen  who  addressed  General  Gage  at  Boston,  on  the  subject 
of  the  "  unhappy  contest."  In  1776  he  was  confined,  but 
released  by  the  Provincial  Congress,  under  recognizance  of 
X500.  Property  confiscated  in  1779.  He  fell  from  his 
horse,  in  1782,  and  died.  An  estate  of  three  hundred  and 
thirty  acres,  which  he  owned,  was  sold  by  the  Commissioners 
of  Confiscation,  in  1784. 

KISSAM,  BENJAMIN  T.  Of  Long  Island,  New  York. 
Brother  of  Major  Kissam.  Made  prisoner  at  Justice  Kis- 
sam's  house,  North  Hempstead,  in  1781.  Died  in  1847,  aged 
eighty-six. 

KISSAM,  -  — .  Of  Long  Island,  New  York.  Major. 
An  Addresser  of  Governor  Robertson  in  1780.  The  next 


606  KISSAM.  —  KNEELAND. 

year  he  was  seized  at  the  house  of  Justice  Kissam,  by  a  party 
of  Whigs.  He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

KISSAM,  BENJAMIN.  "  A  leading  lawyer  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  under  whom  Lindley  Murray,  the  grammarian, 
and  John  Jay,  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  read  law." 
In  1776,  an  Addresser  of  Lord  and  Sir  William  Howe. 

KISSICK,  PHILIP.  Of  New  York.  Vintner  and  distiller. 
Offered  for  sale  "  Home-spun  brandy  and  gin,  very  little 
inferior  to  French  brandy  and  Holland  gin."  In  1776,  an 
Addresser  of  Lord  and  Sir  William  Howe.  He  is  to  be 
remembered  for  his  benefactions  to  Whigs,  who,  carried  to  the 
"sugar-house,"  needed  food  and  money.  One  of  the  prisoners 
fed  by  him  was  James  Schureman,  who  in  after  years  was  a 
member  of  the  House,  and  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

KITCHEN,  THOMAS.  Settled  in  New  Brunswick  in  1783. 
In  1799  he  was  murdered. 

KITCHIXG,  JAMES.  Of  Georgia.  Collector  and  Com 
missioner  of  the  Customs,  and  Naval  Officer  for  the  port  of 
Sunbury.  Subscribed  oath  of  office,  March,  1770.  He  was 
in  England  in  1779.  Attainted,  and  estate  confiscated. 

KNAPP,  JOHN  COGGHILL.  Of  New  York.  "A  notorious 
pettifogger,  —  a  convict  who  had  fled  from  England  for  his 
own  benefit."  In  1776,  an  Addresser  of  Lord  and  Sir  Wil 
liam  Howe. 

KNEELAND,  WILLIAM.  Of  Cambridge,  Mass.  Physician. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  1751 ;  and  was  elected 
Steward  of  that  Institution  by  the  Corporation,  in  1778  ;  "  but, 
as  he  had  been  deemed  unfriendly  to  the  cause  of  American 
Independence,"  the  Overseers  objected  to  the  choice,  and  re 
fused  to  concur.  The  former  body  accordingly  requested  his 
predecessor  to  resume  his  duties,  until  another  Steward  should 
be  chosen.  The  discussions  that  arose  in  this  case  do  not  be 
long  to  this  place,  further  than  to  say,  that  the  Corporation 
asserted,  and  have  since  exercised  the  right,  of  electing  that 
officer  without  action  on  the  part  of  the  Overseers.  Dr.  Knee- 
land  was  Register  of  Probate,  and  for  several  years  President 
of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society.  He  died  in  1788. 


KNEEL  AND.  —  KNOX.  607 

xKELANi),  REV.  EBENEZER.  Episcopal  minister.  He  grad 
uated  at  Yale  College  in  1701,  and  four  years  after  went  to 
England  for  ordination.  He  served  for  a  time  as  Chaplain  in 
the  British  Army,  but  in  January,  17l>8,  he  was  appointed  an 
Assistant  to  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut. 
Dr.  J.  had  conceived  the  idea  of  making  Stratford  a  resort  for 
young  students  in  divinity,  to  prepare  them  for  Holy  Orders, 
and  using  Mr.  Kneeland  to  aid  him  in  the  work.  He  speaks 
of  him  in  one  of  his  letters  as  "  very  well  qualified  to  continue 
it  when  he  was  gone."  On  the  death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson, 
in  1772,  Mr.  Kneeland  succeeded  to  the  Rectorship,  and  prob 
ably  continued  the  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propaga 
tion  of  the  Gospel,  &c.,  until  his  death,  April  17,  1777.  His 
body  was  buried  in  the  church-yard  at  Stratford.  He  mar 
ried  Charity,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Dr.  Johnson,  but  left  no 
children. 

KNIGHT,  JOSHUA.  Of  Pennsylvania.  Attainted  of  trea 
son,  and  property  confiscated.  He  lived  near  Philadelphia, 
and  owned  an  estate  of  value.  Early  in  the  Revolution  he 
abandoned  everything,  went  to  the  island  of  Campo  Bello,  New 
Brunswick,  where,  for  a  winter,  he  occupied  a  fisherman's  salt- 
house,  or  hut.  Joined  finally  by  other  Loyalists  from  his  native 
Province,  he  settled  on  the  mainland  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  at  a 
place  called  Pennfield,  in  honor  of  William  Penn.  Mr.  Knight 
died  at  about  the  age  of  seventy-five,  leaving  four  sons.  The 
original  agreement  between  the  founders  of  Pennfield,  made 
at  Philadelphia,  in  1782,  placed  at  my  disposal  by  gentlemen 
of  his  lineage,  has  been  of  service  to  me. 

Kxox,  THOMAS.  Of  New  York.  A  petitioner  for  lands 
in  Nova  Scotia,  in  1783,  and  one  of  the  two  agents  of  the 
fifty-four  other  petitioners.  In  a  Loyalist  pamphlet,  pub 
lished  in  London,  in  1784,  his  conduct  is  severely  criticized. 
Thus,  he  is  accused  of  "  chicanery,"  and  of  having  the  audac 
ity  to  insult  the  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia  with  impertinent 
letters. 

Kxox,  WILLIAM.  Of  Georgia.  Previous  to  the  Revolu 
tion,  he  appears  to  have  been  the  Agent  of  that  Colony  and 


608  KNOWLES.  —  KOLLOCK. 

of  Florida  ;  and  to  have  been  much  in  England.  At  some 
period  of  the  struggle,  he  was  appointed  Under  Secretary  of 
State  in  the  American  Department.  In  1780,  he  formed  a 
plan  to  divide  Maine,  and  to  give  the  name  of  New  Ireland  to 
the  territory  between  the  Penobscot  and  the  St.  Croix,  with 
Thomas  Oliver  for  Governor,  and  Daniel  Leonard  for  Chief 
Justice.  This  project  was  countenanced  by  the  King,  and  by 
the  Ministry ;  but  wras  abandoned  in  consequence  of  the  oppo 
sition  of  Wedderburne,  the  Attorney-General,  who  said  the 
whole  of  Maine  was  included  in  the  charter  of  Massachusetts. 
After  the  death  of  Sir  James  Wright,  Mr.  Knox  was  employed 
by  the  Loyalists  of  Georgia  to  present  their  claims  for  losses. 
He  was  at  London  in  1788. 

KNOWLES,  ISRAEL.  Of  Sandwich,  Massachusetts.  Impris 
oned  for  his  offences,  real  or  alleged,  in  February,  1778. 

KNOWLES,  S.  Of  Rhode  Island.  Estate  was  confiscated 
previous  to  the  peace,  and  by  the  Act  of  October,  1783,  he 
was  banished  from  the  State,  on  pain  of  death  if  he  returned. 

KNUTTON,  JOHN.  Of  Boston.  Proscribed  and  banished 
in  1778.  He  died  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1827, 
aged  eighty-five ;  and  his  widow,  Margaret,  who,  at  her  mar 
riage,  in  1802,  was  the  widow  of  David  Blair,  at  the  same 
place,  in  1829,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  They  settled  there 
in  1783,  and  he  was  a  grantee  of  the  city. 

KOLLOCK,  SIMON.  Of  Delaware.  In  1777,  Henry  Fisher 
wrote  the  Navy  Board  of  Pennsylvania  that  he  had  been 
on  shore  from  the  Roebuck,  with  a  large  sum  of  counterfeit 
thirty  dollar  bills ;  that  he  had  enlisted  nearly  one  hundred 
men,  and  had  gone  to  New  York  in  a  schooner  "  to  join  the 
rascally  crew."  He  entered  the  King's  service,  and  in  1782 
was  a  captain  in  the  Loyal  American  Regiment.  He  settled 
in  Nova  Scotia.  His  wife,  Ann  Catharine,  died  in  1845,  at 
the  advanced  age  of  ninety-seven.  Simon  Kollock,  Jr.,  of 
Sussex  County,  Delaware,  was  proscribed  under  the  Act  of 
1778 ;  perhaps  the  same. 


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